Since 1995, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury rents and home sale prices have doubled. This increase has imposed a tremendous financial burden on many lower income tenants and potential homebuyers. For some, the housing market escalation has resulted in large rent increases or abandonment of the homeownership goal. For others it has meant displacement from their community.
City Life/Vida Urbana and Jamaica Plain NDC have been working in partnership to fight displacement of low-income families and to increase support for affordable housing in the neighborhood. Our strategies include: organizing tenant associations to collectively bargain with landlords, protesting large rent increases and evictions, advocating for affordable housing to be top priority for publicly-owned vacant land, and pushing at a city and state level for affordable housing funding and protections. Recently, City Life/Vida Urbana has launched the Anti-Displacement Zone, covering parts of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury to bring tenants and homeowners together to organize against evictions and rent gouging.
While the dynamics of the housing market extend far beyond the boundaries of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, we have developed local strategies to address the recent exorbitant and disproportionate rise in the local market. One such strategy is the creation of the Jamaica Plain/Roxbury Affordable Housing Fund. The fund seeks to capture a portion of the local profits made on real estate for investment in activities that stabilize or increase affordable housing opportunities in our neighborhood.
Affordable Housing Fund Goal
The Affordable Housing Fund seeks voluntary contributions from individuals, corporations or businesses that profit from real estate activity in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. Potential sources include individuals selling a home, brokers earning commissions, and banks and mortgage lenders generating increased revenues from mortgage fees and interest. Contributions will be spent on activities that increase affordable opportunities and fight displacement of low-income tenants.
Specifically, the funds are designated for the following purposes:
The fund is administered by a steering committee made up of staff and board of City Life/Vida Urbana and Jamaica Plain NDC.
To date, we have raised more than $50,000 for the Fund, which has helped several hundred low-income families stay in their homes. The primary source of funding has come from families selling their homes who donated a percentage of the sale proceeds to the Fund as a way to support affordable housing and a stable community. The Fund has also received donations from individuals in the community who wish to be part of the effort to maintain a stable and diverse neighborhood.
Donations to the Fund are tax-deductible. Checks can be made payable to:
Affordable Housing Fund- JPNDC
31 Germania Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
For more information about the Affordable Housing Fund, please contact Sally Swenson at 617-522-2424 x242 (sswenson@jpndc.org) or Kay Mathew at 617-524-3541 x311 (kmathew@clvu.org). Or visit our websites at www.jpndc.org or www.clvu.org .
City Life/Vida Urbana and the JPNDC receive support from / reciben apoyo de: