Why does the City of Boston have residency requirements? (Cambridge: house, neighborhoods)

[robr2]

Originally Posted by msRB311

At one time to become a cop or firefighter you had to have been living in the city for 3 years before ANYthing could happen. You had to have 3 years of established residency.

Currently one has to live in Boston for 1 year before taking the civil service exam which takes place every other year.

[L00k4ward]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Considering how Mass keeps expanding public transit and you can live further out and all the remote work from COVID why should this still exist?

If it's about the pension it doesn't cover the school district and housing authority..so...

How can you be a EEOC and be equal opportunity if you cannot afford the rents and homes prices to comply?

Currently there's about 240 or so job openings and unemployment is 2.9% so you cannot really say you need extra jobs when it is that low
https://ycharts.com/indicators/bosto...20of%205.34%25.

If the argument is that they would spend money locally that still doesn't make sense as highways, malls, box stores and online shopping changed that.

If they eliminated it these jobs could float to other areas and that could open up additional housing. Residency also means city employees can vote for their boss, which creates political dynasties. Voter turnout is already low to start with (especially with primaries) so a non competitive primary with a non competitive race pretty much assures this. It also largely attracts those that are younger, that rent and usually are single and without kids. Once you want a house, a spouse and kids it makes it harder to justify moving somewhere. The quality of the school district becomes a factor and then you have to think about private schools etc.

Once they start building out the rail to fall river, new bedford and springfield gutting this could significantly lower the increases in housing prices in boston.

Isn’t it the idea of residency requirements that the out of towners wouldn't be making regulations and policies which may negatively affect the residents?

That was my understanding

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by msRB311

At one time to become a cop or firefighter you had to have been living in the city for 3 years before ANYthing could happen. You had to have 3 years of established residency.

Hasn't been that way in my lifetime. One year to get residency preference.... and many people fudged that back in the day using the addresses of friends or relatives. Nowadays you can lateral in from other cities to get on BPD.

[Mr. Joshua]

We need to end the residency requirement. It was fine when housing was affordable but it's not anymore.

[msRB311]

I'm not sure what the reasoning is for not changing it at this point. People have complained about it for years.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by robr2

The idea of residency was to instill a sense of ownership - it's your city, it's your job, city jobs for city people.

Boston has granted close to 400 residency waivers in the past couple of years simply because they couldn't hire residents for specific jobs.

BPD and BFD have in their contract that they can live outside the city after 10 years of service. BPS teachers do not have to live in the city per state law.

There is an undercurrent of getting rid of the residency requirements as the pay isn't commensurate with the cost of housing in the city. Higher end earners - cabinet members, chiefs, decision makers - would still have to be residents.

In my opinion, the elected officials of any city, state or other local jurisdiction should have to live within the boundaries of that jurisdiction to instill that sense of ownership you described but all other jobs should be open to a wide commuting distance depending on the level of onsite duties.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

In my opinion, the elected officials of any city, state or other local jurisdiction should have to live within the boundaries of that jurisdiction to instill that sense of ownership you described but all other jobs should be open to a wide commuting distance depending on the level of onsite duties.

Elected officials, yes. Employees, not necessarily.

[masssachoicetts]

I turned down multiple positions with the City of Boston because of this exact requirement. They also don’t offer much help in the form of transportation.

Why would I take a 70k salary and pay $2,600 for an apartment in a crappy area of Boston? Are they on crack? You also NEED a car living in Boston, unless you make $600,000 a year… soooo lol.

Im an employee of NYC now and make way more, and live in NJ and my rent is well under 2k. Next to reliable transportation and busses that come every 4 minutes into Manhattan… in 28 minutes. Or I can take the train but the headways are every 25 minutes which is garbage compared to the express bus.

But yeah, Boston needs to fix that lol. I remember when I first started out. The City of Boston offered me $64k. My other job opportunities were $81k, $90k and $87.559k. They couldnt fill those roles for anything. My neighbor in my complex just moved here from Somerville (MA) and he had a city job there, and said it was the worst experience of his life regarding the residency requirements and lack of proper transportation.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

In my opinion, the elected officials of any city, state or other local jurisdiction should have to live within the boundaries of that jurisdiction to instill that sense of ownership you described but all other jobs should be open to a wide commuting distance depending on the level of onsite duties.

So if I work in Cambridge, I have to somehow find housing over $3k within the 4 square miles of Cambridge on an average salary? You are kidding, right?

This might have worked 20 years ago… but now? Absolutely not. We cant afford to live in your cities lol

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

You also NEED a car living in Boston, unless you make $600,000 a year… soooo lol.

Tell that to the college students living in Boston.