Situation Critical:
UMass Boston Releases Vital Housing Study
Chancellor
Penney Reflects on Twelve Years At UMass Boston
UMass
Boston First Celebrates Early Victory
Years
of Service Reception Honors 152 Employees
Sherry
H.Penney Endowed Professorship in Leadership
Situation
Critical:
UMass Boston Releases Vital Housing Study
Gordon
Wallace Named Outstanding Faculty Member
Clinical
Psychology Department
Receives Accreditation
By Kim Burke
With today’s booming economy, it is easy to forget
that there are people who are struggling to make ends meet. Part of
the struggle for heads of households is to find affordable housing and
still have money left over for other essentials such as electricity
and the telephone. Researchers at the Center for Social Policy and the
McCormack Institute have completed the study, “Situation Critical:
Meeting the Needs of Lower Income Massachusetts Residents,” and
found that “housing affordability continues to be a very serious
problem in Massachusetts.”
Coauthored by Michael Stone, College of Public and Community Service and public policy professor, Elaine Werby, McCormack Institute senior fellow, and Donna Haig Friedman, director of the Center for Social Policy, the study adds to the body of work produced by the McCormack Institute and the Center for Social Policy on affordable housing issues. Werby differentiates this study from other housing reports produced recently because it focuses on lower-income households rather than middle income and lower middle income households.
The current report finds that “almost one-third of
the people of Massachusetts have serious housing affordability problems
and that about 370,000 renter households and 300,000 homeowner households
are shelter-poor.” The demographics of the shelter-poor came as
no surprise to the authors, but are a key element in understanding how
to find a solution to the housing needs of the lower-income population.
The report found that the shelter-poor and homeless are mostly either
single-parent families, elderly, and/or people of color.
With such a critical issue, the recommendations argued
by the authors are a step towards keeping the promise made in the 1994
Housing Act for “‘a decent home and a suitable living environment
for every American family.’” The authors hope that both the
state of Massachusetts and the country at large can find a way to meet
the needs of those still looking for the economic boom to hit home.
Released in late September, the report has garnered much attention and was covered by articles in the Boston Globe, Patriot Ledger, Lowell Sun and newspapers in Westfield, Attleboro, and Worcester.