'The cries of his people': Residents call for action on New Bedford's housing crisis
NEW BEDFORD — Jodie Evora sat in her seat in a front pew at The First Unitarian Church Tuesday night as she clapped and sang to the music of the choir that heralded a community meeting on housing.
Later, Evora told the approximately 150 attendees about the challenges she faces finding housing as rent prices rise rapidly and exponentially.
"I have tried to provide for my family, offering shelter and security, as best I can," the community clinician at High Point Treatment Center told the gathering. "But housing ... This housing journey has not been easy for me."
Evora said she was "verbally evicted" when her adult son with a behavioral issue visited after being kicked off the property. A neighbor notified the landlord, who then gave her less than a month to leave.
"After about seven months of searching, I have not found anything," she continued. "All the places that I visited just were not livable and in horrible condition. And even in these unfit conditions, the landlords are asking for about $4,000 up front."
City poised for transformation
Organized by United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Massachusetts, the meeting aimed to draw city leaders' attention to the issues facing New Bedford's most vulnerable; even as development looks to increase its economic prospects.
"The city of New Bedford is on the edge of transformation," said Jack Livramento, a member of the New Bedford School Committee.
He spoke of "three major events" set to change the city's economic and housing landscape, including the completion of South Coast rail slated for 2023, offshore wind turbine construction, and a new industrial park will be built off Interstate 195.
"These actions will attract workers and more families to the city," he continued. "The housing market is overburdened now; this will make a bad situation worse."
New Bedford's hot real estate market
The city housing market is indeed overheated, according to People Acting in Community Endeavors, Inc., (PACE) a community service nonprofit. They provided The Standard-Times with a sampling of home sale prices from January to March 2022.
A house on Mosher Street which sold for $85,000 in 2017 sold for $290,000 this year. Another on Mott Street jumped from a $150,000 sales price in 2015 to $465,000. A third house on Brock Avenue went from $75,000 in 1993 to $600,000 in 2022.
Smaller gaps between sales still show large price hikes: a building on Davis Street sold for $470,000; that's $120,000 more than its price two years prior.
Many new landlords — often from out of town — raise rent prices to pay off their purchases. This, in addition to the pressures of new residents competing for limited housing stock, combine to price many lower-income families out of New Bedford.
In response to a public information request from The Standard-Times, the city said the number of new residential construction from 2011 — the year Mayor Jon Mitchell began his tenure — to 2021 was 219 containing a total of 275 new dwelling units.
According to the City's 2020 Annual Action Plan, those are mostly single-family homes.
Every year from 2016 to 2021 saw more new dwelling units come online than new residential construction, indicating a greater number of multi-unit residences.
The action plan also said there were 43,285 residential properties in a city of around 95,000 people, split among 39,491 households.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there are now more than 101,000 people living in New Bedford among 39,051 households.
A spokesman for the mayor said that residential construction largely depends on market trends "far outside Greater New Bedford" and contractors and is thus cyclical, though housing has always been a priority for the administration.
Population growth outpaces available housing
PACE Assistant Executive Director Joshua Amaral said the numbers reflect an underwhelming reaction to a major issue.
"The population is increasing, more people want to live in New Bedford, but the number of housing units has remained flat or even declined when you take into consideration houses that have burned down or become uninhabitable or vacant," he said. "The best way to ensure New Bedford’s housing costs stay within reach for the average resident is to build more units."
In an article published by the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Mitchell indicated movement towards that goal.
“We’d like to see a balance of restricted and unrestricted units, so the ARPA funds give us an opportunity to accelerate projects that are in keeping with our overall policy,” Mitchell said.
The city is slated to announce recipients of American Rescue Plan Act housing funds next week.
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'No place to call home'
According to data provided by UIA, 23% of households in New Bedford spend more than 50% of their income on housing, significantly higher than the statewide average of 14%.
New Bedford, at 357, has the third-highest number of evictions since the end of a COVID-19-related moratorium in October 2020.
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Funding proposals for housing issues
At the meeting, UIA detailed how an additional $10 million could be spent on housing should the city choose to increase spending by that much.
Among the proposed allocations was $1.5 million to be put toward a City Emergency Housing Fund to rental subsidies as a measure to prevent foreclosures; or towards a Legal Services Fund to hire lawyers in eviction cases.
Several residents provided testimony of their housing struggles in the city, including 74-year-old Adriana Carreiro, who immigrated from Portugal when she was 15.
"I have been here for 59 years," she said. "For eight years, I lived in an apartment and paid $650 for rent. Then the landlord increased the rent to $800, and I paid it.
"Then the landlord increased the rent again to $1400, doubling the rent for no reason."
The widow, living on a fixed income, told the landlord she could not afford it and said their response was that she either had to pay or leave.
"Going from place to place, I have all my clothes in my car," she continued, holding back tears. "For the first time in my life, I have no place to call home."
UIA also proposed setting aside $5 million as "seed money" for community organizations to create affordable housing and the creation of a New Bedford Affordable Housing Development Fund for the "acquisition, rehabilitation, and development costs" on existing buildings.
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They also called for $1 million for first-time homebuyer grants to help low- to moderate-income families purchase and $2.5 million for supportive housing to those experiencing homelessness.
Political response
Several elected officials, including state Reps. Antonio F.D. Cabral, Christopher Markey, Christopher Hendricks and Paul Schmid, and City Councilor Shane Burgo attended the event.
Ashley Eaton, neighborhood planner at the city's Office of Housing and Community Development, spoke for the municipal government at the meeting.
"The city has been and continues to be committed to growing the mix of housing options for people of various income levels," she said, such as by supporting developers in state application programs. "For larger projects, there are 11 projects, totaling about 300 units of housing of which 75% to 80% are income restricted.
"In addition to that, the mayor has committed $5 million in ARPA funding at this point to the housing expansion initiative which will kickstart some of those shelf-ready affordable housing projects."
Eaton added that the city already has programs similar to some of the initiatives brought forward by UIA. These include the HOME program, which Eaton described as a "generous" first-time homebuyers program that provides an up to $10,000 loan at 0% interest with a maximum 10-year deferment.
She also referred to Community Development Block Grants available to low-income property owners to bring properties to the standards of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The city offers the Housing Accessibility Program which gives grants of $8,000 to those with disabilities for housing, and another Community Development Block Grant program that helps low-to-moderate-income homeowners pay for emergency repairs.
Eaton added the city "is willing to consider expansion of rental assistance programs," provides community block grant funding to South Coastal Counties Legal Services, and the pending launch of a comprehensive study of homelessness support resources.
Renee Ledbetter, a UIA leader, then asked Eaton if the city would be willing to commit $10 million "more dollars to making housing a priority?"
"I don't know the answer," she answered.
City spokesman Michael Lawrence said that municipal staff — including the mayor on March 17 — have been meeting with and working with UIA on housing issues and that a scheduling conflict prevented Mitchell's attendance.
The group expressed disappointment at his absence.
"We see the mayor chose not to come tonight," UIA Leader Maria Jose Morales said. "There is a housing crisis and he chose not to hear the cries of his people."
Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@s-t.com and follow him on Twitter: @KevinGAndrade. Support local journalism and subscribe to the Standard-Times today!
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford residents call on city for help with housing crisis issues
