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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
By Matthew McLaughlin
Vice President and Ward 1 Alderman
The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a Home Rule Petition for a Real Estate Transfer Fee tonight. I plan on canvassing the neighborhood to explain the final bill, but I want to dispel misinformation I routinely hear. This is a simplified version but I am happy to go into detail for anyone interested.
The proposed transfer fee is a one percent fee on real estate transactions in Somerville. The money will be used for affordable housing in Somerville. This fee will not apply to any owner occupied units. It will not apply to sellers or buyers who live in Somerville. Family transactions and inheritances will also be exempt.
So who will pay the fee?
The only people that will end up paying this fee are developers, speculators, home flippers, multiple property owners and individuals who own properties that do not live in the city.
Can’t the law be changed at any time?
The only aspects of the bill that can be changed is if the city decides to allow more exemptions, not less. I know this because I was the one that inserted the language. In order for any substantive changes to be made it would have to go through the same rigorous process this bill will, which requires approval from the state legislature and the governor. After spending more than a year and a half on this, I can state confidently that no one would want to go through this process again to make changes.
There was no public process
I have never taken part of a more rigorous process for anything in my time on the Board. Zoning, budgets, the High School, the Green Line, none of these processes were as through as this. We held two public hearings, published the hearings in all newspapers and televised them. We met in committee longer than I’ve ever spent on any city legislation. Some people said they wanted a city wide mailer to all property owners, excluding renters. The Board requested the city use mail and reverse 311 to notify residents, which they declined. To be fair, they stated that they have not done that for any other public hearings, and the two hearings were so well attended the message clearly got out.
Additionally, this is still just the beginning of the process. The Home Rule Petition still has to go to the state legislature for approval and then the governor. There will be yet another public hearing at the state level. If this petition somehow gets through that process, it will return to the Board where we will codify it into an ordinance. Only then do we even get to talk about implementing the fee.
Why don’t you make the developers pay?
At this point the developers are some of the few people who will pay. There is no exemption for them and when they do pay it will be substantively larger fee than an individual home purchaser.
I support affordable housing, but not like this. Do something different.
I have heard this mantra for the last decade of my life. There is someone at every attempt to address affordable housing who says to take another path. I will take any and all routes to preserve affordability in this city. Critics suggested that we regulate condo conversions and Air BNB’s, pass a revised zoning code, make budget cuts and use the general fund for housing, hold developers like FRIT in Assembly accountable, that Tufts and Partners should pay more. Anyone paying attention knows that I have been at the very front of all of those fights. I will do all of the above, and expect the same resistance that we got from the transfer fee.
Who gets the affordable housing?
Somerville residents and people who work in Somerville get preference, so long as it abides by housing law. State and federal laws limit residential preference due to historic discrimination in affordable housing. This bill takes into consideration the needs of Somerville residents, but also respects the law
This is a regional problem that requires regional solutions.
Yes, this is indeed a regional, and even a national and international problem. Unfortunately we are essentially on our own to solve this problem. The state government refuses to take substantive action on affordable housing, and may likely kill this bill as well.
The federal housing department does not believe in money for affordable housing. This Board and I were elected to address affordable housing, not make up excuses. We will lead the way as a national model rather than wait for others to act.
This is just one of many ways to address affordable housing. In my mind a one percent fee on interests that don’t live in the city and have reaped massive benefits from an out of control market is more than reasonable. Unfortunately every attempt at affordable housing is met with massive resistance from special interests who manipulate people understandably mistrustful of government. There is a reason nothing has been done about the affordability crisis. I voted in favor or this effort and will support any and all efforts to preserve the city that I love.
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To write this apology letter, you must be pretty concerned with the backlash you and the rest of the board have received since forcing this special interest initiative down the throats of the good folks of Somerville. Shame on you and the rest of the board who chose to divide your own community because you were beholden to Our Revolution’s agenda. Even though you and the rest of the board know all too well this thing is DOA at the state house. Don’t you see the hypocrisy in what you did? Us voters sure have taken notice.
Even if this thing did pass the state house it will do absolutely zero to balance affordability in Somerville, actually it will do the complete opposite by creating a larger gap between the top and bottom earners. Simple business economics say, if one is to incur a cost increase then it will eventually get passed along to the end consumer (buyer).
This board did nothing by passing this HRP to the state house other than placate their own special interest voting bloc. The next election can’t get here fast enough. I think most of us long time Somerville residents have learned a valuable lesson in the first 5 months of this new BOA. It’s time to take back our city.
Good on the Aldermen and the Mayor for getting this done. Doesn’t affect residents or those who want to be residents. It’ll never cost me a dime, but it will generate cash for affordable housing.
City would be more than happy to go through this “process” to get 2% or 3% or change the language —if it can be added it can be removed.
This is where we need a way to review the decisions made by our aldermen and decide if we can reverse their decisions or terminate them from the job they were hire to do. It is obvious they do not want to follow the wishes of the people of Somerville and do what is right. When we work for an employer we are expected to do our job as our employer wants us to. If we go against our employer we either have to do it over right or go find another job. This was clearly not what we wanted and to do so is definitely a snub at the people of Somerville telling us they can do whatever THEY want. They need to be held accountable for this actions.
So Matt told the voters of Ward 1 that he was going to fight hard for affordable housing. His ward responded by giving him 70% of the vote (me included). So you really think he’s now going to get voted out in the next election for fighting hard for affordable housing – just like he said he was going to do?
Personally, I don’t care much one way or another about the transfer fee. Doesn’t impact me, and even if it did I’d be ok with it if it really helped. But arguing that it goes against the wishes of the people of Somerville is kind of hard to argue, given that its passage was one of the central themes of the campaigns of aldermen who won by decent margins last year. If anything, they’d have trouble with voters if they DIDN’T pass it.
This is a bad call for the BOA and for the Ward 1 Alderman to issue a statement like that is absurd. He should go back to the military and doing something productive. His affordable housing rhetoric is a crock. He should donate his salary to assist the affordable housing. It’s time to oust this new board, especially wards 1,2,3,5,6 what kind of alderman poses nude in a pool playing chess. Are these the type of people we put in office. Let’s be realistic, our President is an idiot, do we really need more at a local level
Sorry, but every time I have talked to Matt he has done nothing but lied.
I love how he yelled and screamed about FRIT and said the deal should be thrown out, but getting the deal, which as far as I can tell he had nothing to do with, was one of the accomplishments he listed when he ran for reelection.
If it was so bad that people should be fired for it, why would you list it as an accomplishment?
First of all pictures are always worth a thousand words. When this hrp does fail please remember those famous words from the rebelious parts and crafts owner we elected you!
Lets see where that statement takes us in about one year on the local level and don’t forget to get to the polls this fall for our State delegation. Yes every vote will count.
I think the crafty will have parted along with some others. The question is where will they go?
Those that have continued to support our fine community will still be here waiting for the next storm to pass through. With great resilance we will survive and continue to prosper the question at what cost?
McLaughlin is little more than an empty pile of clothing. No idea what makes him think he’s fit for public office. Mean, vindictive, dishonest, with an ego that makes Trump look like Mr. Humble. He had a comment on his Twitter some time ago bragging about how an article on rodent control in this very newspaper was made possible through his magnanimous and gargantuan efforts at getting committee meetings recorded and shared with the public (even though many are still actually not). Fact is I looked for that video but it was audio only and you couldn’t even tell who was speaking at any given moment. Kudos to the Times for gathering enough info from that to put together an informed article anyway. What a phony. Come at me, bro.
The exemption for owner-occupied properties was not added to the home rule petition until after some meetings including a public hearing, according to Alderman Hirsch’s op-ed: https://bit.ly/2L50Bwb. The fact that longtime Somerville residents were not immediately exempt places a very bitter taste in our mouths and further widens the “old school” versus “new school” divide. Other op-eds only added fuel to this fire. This piece of legislation could have been instantly lauded as a way to protect legacy residents while giving those who are passionate about our community a tangible avenue to home ownership and deterring the cash-hungry flippers to go elsewhere to make a buck. Instead, we have animosity and anger that really could have been avoided.
This article continues the line that this is a fee. It is not. It is a TAX. Courtney you are so right about the exemptions. This was originally targeted at homeowners. The first draft I saw specifically stated the tax would be levied against the seller and would become a personal debt and responsibility of the seller. Add that to the fact that they took a vote against informing said homeowners about this. This group doesn’t understand that they work for and are paid by ALL the people.
Courtney has it correct. The only reason all Somerville homeowners are exempt is because of the backlash from Somerville residents at the hearings. The original petition had everyone paying apart from exemptions for elderly and disabled.
Riddle me this… What current Ward Alderman has XXX nude photos circulating in the same vain as Anthony Weiner?
Spot on Courtney!! Too bad that the only people who think of the residents are not in city hall.
XXX photos…Christ!
Dirty pictures? Was it a Republican, Democrat, Socialist, or all of the above, depending on the day and the audience? Nothing surprises me anymore.
As I recall, the idea started out with a resident exemption (literally talked to the mayor about that when he knocked on my door last fall). Seems like the Aldermen tried to float it without that and then went back to the original plan. Still happy with where it landed, so I’m not going to get overly angry about how it got there.
Sorry villenous we the residents won’t turn a blind eye to this board disrespecting homeowners and trying to boost the money grab.
Thank you Courtney for pointing out that homeowners play second fiddle to these legislators. Thank you to Villenous for reminding us that they purposely removed homeowners.