Affordable Housing for People Who Don’t Qualify for a Subsidy (Boston: low income, section 8)

[diegomar2007]

I have a blog on finding income-restricted unsubsidized housing for individuals who earn more than the poverty level. Low income for subsidized programs is defined as $70,000 or less for an individual and $110,000 or less for a family of four. Each subsidized program sets its income limit. The Section 8 income limit differs from public housing or the Massachusetts Rental Voucher.

However, some individuals and families earning over the low-income limit for a subsidy still qualify for unsubsidized income-restricted housing. The income-restricted rents are fixed if you fall within a specific range and don’t fluctuate if your income increases or decreases as subsidized rents. Each property sets its minimum and maximum, and you must apply at the property, not through any housing authority like subsidized rentals.

Homeownership and rental prices in the city are disproportionately high for what you get in return. That’s why I left for the suburbs after eight years in the South End (in addition to the high crime), which made me realize that I thought I had a great deal in the city. Oh, yeah, the centrically located South End with all the beautiful architecture, scattered parks through the neighborhood, and all the blah blah blah that people in the city repeat. Guess what? You don’t eat bricks; the money you need to eat is going to housing. I have more amenities in the suburbs, which are considered luxuries in the city.

I hope the new state zoning act balances the need for affordable housing for the poor and the middle class, and many people in the city don’t struggle. We need policies that focus on mixed-income housing rather than exclusively on the poor. Maybe that motivates people with low income to earn more to rise from poverty, but for now, who would want to risk their low-income subsidy in such an expensive region?

Start with Metrolist. There is also the Massachusetts Housing Navigator for subsidized and unsubsidized and the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). Also, there are property management companies with subsidized and income-restricted unsubsidized portfolios.

You won’t receive an immediate response in most properties because they have a lottery. The competition for affordable prices is fierce. But don’t get discouraged and apply if you plan to stay long in the region. You never know if you receive an answer when you need it most.

[WestieWhitie]

We could force developers to give away a large percentage of the units for next to nothing which makes construction so expensive only projects in the most expensive parts of Boston are profitable and barely anything gets built which in turn means prices and rents will keep going up. Or we could instead do away with all the shakedowns which would make new constructions cheap enough to make basic apartments in places like Hyde Park and Mattapan profitable, let alone in more expensive hoods like JP or Roslindale, and if enough housing gets built to satisfy the demand prices and rents will stabilize or maybe even go down.

[mdovell]

Could just move more out more to western and Central mass

[bostongymjunkie]

My opinion is that even if you mitigated the housing for middle class thing the city will never be the diverse socioeconomic metropolis it once was until the commercial rents are also more reality based. Fewer and fewer diverse independent businesses can afford to do business here.

[bostongymjunkie]

Home prices fell for the first time in 3 years last month – and it was the biggest decline since 2011


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/24/home...ince-2011.html