Thank you so much to everyone who attended our 2019 Annual Meeting! It was great to chat with folks about the future of housing in Allston Brighton and discuss ways to bring more people into the discussion.
Highlights From The Evening
Our 2019 Volunteer of the Year
Mark Sullivan was honored as our Volunteer of the Year. Since 2016, Mark has volunteered countless hours to counsel first-time homebuyers and provide them with invaluable advice and support throughout their homebuying process. Mark has been an integral part of our organization for over 3 years and we can’t thank him enough for his dedication!
Community Engagement Fellow Thank You
We also honored Elizabeth Bedortha who was our Community Engagement Fellow this year. Elizabeth is pursuing her Master’s Degree from Merrimack College and she’s been a huge asset for out team. She even stepped in and helped out at our community center when we were searching for a new Resident Services Specialist. We wish her luck in all of her future endeavors!
Three New Board Members
Our Board of Directors voted in 3 new members! We are so excited to use their expertise to better the community. For more information, check out their board profiles here.
Rising Rents, Closing Doors
Our own Jason Desrosier presented on the 20th Anniversary of the Rising Rents, Closing Doors Report. Unfortunately, housing in our neighborhood is more expensive than ever. New housing development is drastically mismatched with resident needs and the need for affordable housing in Allston Brighton far exceeds the supply. While the findings are disheartening, we want to continue working to open doors for folks across our neighborhood.
Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis
Finally, we heard from Katherine Einstein and Maxwell Palmer from the Boston University Political Science Department to present their research on public meetings and housing. They looked at Planning and Zoning Board meeting minutes from 2015-2017 for 97 cities and towns across the state and found that commenters are overwhelmingly older, white, homeowners. In fact, in Lawrence, while 75% of the population is Latino, only 1 of 42 commenters in the city had a Latino surname. While the general public is more supportive of housing, those who participate in public meetings tend to be more opposed to building more affordable housing.
We want to bring more people to the table who represent diverse viewpoints on housing. Hear more about their research here or check out their presentation slides here:
Thanks to everyone for their continued support! If you weren’t able to make it to the Annual Meeting, check out our live stream from the event on our Facebook page.
