The Human Rights Commission & Affordable Housing Trust are hosting an event in response to the recent West Metro Homes Consortium report which found housing discrimination present in Watertown, as well as in every other community surveyed. See the information provided by the City of Watertown.
Join us at the Fair Housing in Watertown Meeting on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. virtually via Zoom, at: https://watertown-ma.zoom.us/j/91712481602. (The public may also join the virtual meeting audio only by phone: 877-853-5257 or 888-475-4499 (Toll Free) and enter Webinar ID: 917 1248 1602)
Sophia Suarez-Friedman of the Wayside Multi-Service Center will talk about what she has learned helping individuals and families find housing in Watertown. Elizabeth Brusie and Cliff Cook will co-moderate and discuss steps the city can take to combat housing discrimination.
There will be a panel discussion, with opportunities for public participation, with:
- Kelly Vieira, Director of Investigations and Outreach for Suffolk University Law School’s Housing Discrimination Testing Program
- Sophia Suarez-Friedman, LICSW, Program Coordinator at the Wayside Multi-Service Center
- Elizabeth Brusie, Human Rights Commissioner
- Cliff Cook, Affordable Housing Trust Chair
This meeting is in response to a February 2025 report, commissioned by the WestMetro HOME Consortium (13 communities, including Watertown), that found evidence of race and/or source of income discrimination in every community. The testing was conducted by Suffolk Law School. Kelly Vieira will discuss the basics of fair housing law and the report’s findings.
From the February 2025 West Metro Report, Recommendations, 2. Page 13:
“Encourage real estate companies to hire DEI positions and participate in DEI training”
Let us know how this goes with the realtors…
And what happened to Belonging?
Let me state that I do not own or rent any apartments. This e-mail may upset some people. So West Metro alleges Housing Discrimination in Watertown and without any facts showing in this Guest Writer piece how they conducted themselves in their study, who they approached, giant rental Corporations, a multi unit building or some local 2 or 3 family owner trying to ease his or hers payment. The word Discrimination to me is right up there with the term Insubordination used in Labor terms, very vague, covers a lot of ground that people are unsure of, but the results are a termination for what no one knows at times. Very big grey area! So, the Human Rights Commision and Affordable Housing Trust are going to set this right? How about a dose of reality here, before the Pandemic and right up to today, explain the Laws and rights that tenants have from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that make it very hard on that Woman or Man with a family and the couple of unit home or anyone else, whether the building owner or the big Corporation that allows them not to pay the rent and live free, until the time it takes to go thru the Courts to have them evicted along with the final insult of paying to move them out along with the storage fee. One has to wonder why rents are so high, maybe they’re trying to recoup the loses for being stiffed. Does it make it harder for good tenants, I know I would really be cautious of who I rent to, no matter how much money I may have. Then again Watertown is not inexpensive when it comes to rents, I understand that you need $15,000-20,000 just to get in the door, counts me out. Are we going to subsidize our way out of the problem, raise our taxes when people are holding on to their, again their, just in case you don’t get it, HOMES trying to live here, because there’s really nowhere else. So if West Metro wants to use the broad brush approach with the word Discrimination, they can take it to where it belongs and I’m sure they know all about MCAD along with their study. If you’re going to allege, at least bring all the facts into the story or just don’t do it. Thank You