Dear City Councilors,
We write to share compelling evidence that voters in our community — and across the state — are ready for bold action to make housing more affordable. Recent polling reveals that clear majorities of voters support the action needed to build more homes that people can afford, even when that choice is put up directly against protecting neighborhood character from change. In fact, when asked to choose, 71% of voters prioritized building affordable homes over preserving traditional neighborhood character.
The community acceptance of necessary change is widespread. Housing has emerged as voters’ top concern, ranking above cost of living, immigration, or taxes. And remarkably, this pro-housing sentiment crosses all demographic lines, spanning age, race, income, education, and homeownership status.
These results come as Watertown considers new plans and priorities that can make a meaningful difference in housing affordability in the coming months. The results of the upcoming affordable housing incentives study will help us better understand what zoning and process changes we can make to support nonprofit housing developers in their efforts to build more deed-restricted affordable housing.
Similarly, the response to the WestMetro HOME Consortium’s recent fair housing audit study, which showed widespread evidence of illegal racial and income-based discrimination regionally and in Watertown, will need to incorporate staffing, policy, and zoning solutions to mitigate future exclusionary practices.
As election season nears, we urge you to take a stand for the pro-housing policies and priorities that are widely popular, economically necessary, and morally just. Lowering the cost of housing by building more of all types — public housing, deed-restricted affordable housing, and market rate housing — is both the right thing to do and the politically expedient thing to do. It’s rare that a choice is so clear, but the evidence shows that voters want action now. We urge you to meet that demand.
Sincerely,
Rita Colafella, Sam Ghilardi, Dan Pritchard, Josh Rosmarin, Jacky van Leeuwen
Housing for All Watertown Steering Committee