SEND EMAILS TO MAYOR KIM JANEY, CITY HALL, AND CITY COUNCILORS
Send emails to ask Mayor Kim Janey to sign an executive order to strengthen the Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) and require truly affordable housing now! Developers only have to make 13% of new housing affordable, and even that housing isn't actually affordable. Thousands of new luxury units are getting reviewed and approved while Boston residents and communities are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and eviction crises, and systemic racism. We need the Mayor to act now to increase the 13% to 33%, and make sure the IDP is based on Boston residents' incomes.
Copy and paste the email addresses below, so that you can send Mayor Janey, her staff, and at-large City Councilors the email. It’ll also send a copy of your email to the Coalition for a Truly Affordable Boston.
You can also look up your District Councilor if you want to email them.
Copy and paste the text below in your email. Include your name and where you live. Optional: Add a personal message at the beginning.
Send the emails!
Let us know at https://www.affordableboston.org/emailreport that you sent an email, and to say if we can add your name to our petition!
EMAILS: mayor@boston.gov, chris.osgood@boston.gov, mary.churchill@boston.gov, sheila.dillon@boston.gov, tim.davis2@boston.gov, Brian.Golden@boston.gov, Heather.Campisano@boston.gov, michael.christopher@boston.gov, michelle.mccarthy@boston.gov, lizzie.torres@boston.gov, BPDAboard@Boston.gov, Julia.Mejia@Boston.gov, A.E.George@boston.gov, Michael.F.Flaherty@boston.gov, Michelle.Wu@boston.gov, idp.announce@gmail.com
SUBJECT: Mayor Janey, sign an executive order to change the IDP now!
MESSAGE (optional: add a personal message at the top!):
Dear Mayor Janey and City officials,
My name is _____ and I live _____ (address and/or neighborhood).
I appreciate the Mayor’s support for updating the Inclusionary Development Policy, specifically the Mayor’s support for increasing the set-aside, changing the income levels the IDP reaches (lowering them to an average of 40% AMI for rental units and 50-100% AMI for ownership units), and lowering the 10-unit threshold. Mayor Janey, you can change the IDP by *signing a new IDP executive order now*. We urge you to use your power as Mayor to strengthen affordability requirements now and support our communities, just as you took action to issue an eviction moratorium to support Boston residents and working-class BIPOC communities in the pandemic and housing crisis. We cannot wait for the City to act: every week the IDP is not changed, more luxury developments are approved in almost every corner of every neighborhood, and more residents are displaced.
Along with community organizations, civic groups, and residents across the City of Boston, I am contacting you to express my distress about the continued gentrification happening in neighborhoods around the city. We are concerned about the wave of displacement and homelessness due to the COVID-19 and economic crises. The pandemic and economic and eviction crises have exacerbated long-existing racial inequities which have caused devastating effects on Black, Indigenous, and people and communities of color. People are struggling with housing, education, jobs, food, health, and basic needs. ***I support the Coalition for a Truly Affordable Boston’s demands to strengthen the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) NOW***, as a crucial tool to prevent further gentrification and displacement!
The Inclusionary Development Policy is an important tool for the production and preservation of affordable housing, which is an essential part of a racially just transformation of our city. We cannot afford to only require 13% “affordability” at unaffordable levels while development is speeding up during the current crises. Mayor Janey, I ask that you change the IDP now!
I urge the Mayor to do the following:
* Sign a new executive order to update the Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) now.
* Require developers to make one-third (33%) of new units affordable.
* Redefine affordability income levels so that units are truly affordable for residents with the greatest need. Rental units should be 30-70% AMI at an average of 40% AMI, and ownership units should be 50-100% AMI.
* Decrease the 10-unit threshold for IDP, which the BPDA and DND have previously committed to doing.
We also ask elected officials, BPDA, and DND to work with us next year to make permanent changes to zoning that would make IDP units permanently affordable, and require high percentages of 2 bedroom and 3-4 bedroom units.