Fair Housing means no discrimination! Candidates for Mayor and City Council had the chance to present their views on non-discrimination in housing by answering a questionnaire from the Somerville Fair Housing Commission, a nonpartisan group of volunteers. We are sharing all the answers we received. The Commission hopes you, the voters, will use the candidates’ answers as you decide how to vote in the September 16 primary and the November general election.

Answers from incumbents (officeholders) are below; answers from challengers will be published next week.

Incumbents

Candidates who are running for re-election this year discussed their views on Fair Housing before, in 2023, or in 2021, or both. You can find their answers from those years at the bottom of the Commission page on the City of Somerville website: https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/fair-housing-commission.

This year, the questions for incumbents were:

1. Now having served multiple terms, what advice would you give to first-time candidates about protecting residents from housing discrimination?
2. Are there any institutional structures in Somerville that you feel are barriers to fair housing? Is there anything that you would like to re-imagine or update?

Here are all the answers we received from incumbents:

1. Now having served multiple terms, what advice would you give to first-time candidates about protecting residents from housing discrimination?

Mayoral candidates

Katjana Ballantyne, current Mayor of Somerville:

In my four years as mayor and eight years as city councilor, I have both sponsored and voted for many initiatives aiming to make housing in Somerville more affordable as well as more accessible to our most vulnerable residents. These initiatives have included, for example, A 20% affordability requirement for new residential construction, The 2000 Homes Program, The strengthened Condo Conversion Ordinance, The Office of Housing Stability, The Jobs Creation and Retention Trust Fund, The Talent Equity Playbook, The Community Land Trust, the work of the Fair Housing Commission and more. As mayor, I have continued my leadership on these and more initiatives to make housing more affordable and more fairly accessible.

The most common reasons for being denied housing in Somerville are economic, which disproportionately affect immigrant communities, people of color, and people with disabilities. Local market rates for housing exceed what many people with disabilities and low-income, and middle-income earning residents and their families can afford. The local market rate for housing is driven by renters who are often unrelated, young professionals or students who can pay a high price to rent for the short time they need to live here, usually two to four years, and sometimes less. Households, with only two wage-earners, and especially single-parent households simply cannot afford to pay what a group of unrelated young professionals or students can pay. In addition, the percentage of residential units owned by out-of-state investors has grown substantially. Long-time owners who may have had good relationships with their long-time tenants and imposed only reasonable rent increases are now commonly replaced by investor/owners seeking maximum financial return for their investment.

All of these factors along with rapidly rising rents and housing prices more generally have left many residents struggling to afford and/or access housing. Exacerbating these monetary access problems are the challenges in ensuring that vulnerable tenants do not experience unlawful discrimination in violation of local, state and federal anti-discrimination.

As indicated in the recent survey that I initiated as mayor, conducted by Somerville’s Anti-Displacement Task Force and supported by other research, the two most frequent types of unlawful housing discrimination reported by Somerville residents are source of income/housing voucher discrimination and discrimination against persons with disabilities including refusal to provide required reasonable accommodations.

The question of how to prevent unlawful discrimination is complex so the advice that I would offer a new candidate is multi-faceted and is informed by the work of my administration’s Office of Housing Stability and its Housing Division’s fair housing compliance staff. I believe that the primary components of a strong strategy to prevent housing discrimination in rental housing includes, but is not limited to, the following: (a) robust training and education of tenants, landlords, realtors and others about landlord/tenant rights and responsibilities under relevant Anti-Discrimination laws; (b) well trained city staff that can assist tenants in enforcement of Anti-Discrimination laws through direct advocacy with landlords, management companies and realtors and through the filing of formal fair housing complaints with HUD or MCAD where appropriate; (c) making available legal representation for tenants to pursue fair housing objectives for legally viable claims; (d) staying connected to area resources such as the Suffolk University testing program to maximize the effectiveness of fair housing interventions; and (e ) the creation of programs that both assist tenants to afford the upfront costs of housing AND that incentivize landlords to rent to tenants with Section 8, MRVP, HomeBase or other tenant based rental assistance. While enforcement is critical, we need to use our creativity to employ both carrot and stick approaches to ensure maximum access to housing for our residents, especially those who are most vulnerable to discrimination.

I would also want new candidates to understand that it is unfortunately often the case that tenants are unsurprisingly reluctant to file formal discrimination complaints related to housing denials as they do not wish to start off on a negative foot with a new landlord and because they are often far too busy with their housing search to focus on potential fair housing enforcement which may or may not be successful in achieving successful rehousing. It is critical that tenants are empowered to make the best and most informed decisions available to them regarding their enforcement options and their housing search. It is also imperative that tenants receive this critical information in a format and language that is fully accessible to them and through staff that understand the incredible stress that an involuntary housing search can place on a vulnerable family, older adult, immigrant or person with disabilities.

I would also note that, at the present moment, immigrant households face an additional set of unique housing challenges. At the present time, the Trump administration has begun a process of serving some landlords with subpoena’s seeking complete information about immigrant tenant households. While it is unclear if such a subpoena has been served in Somerville yet, it is only a matter of time. Immigrants are well aware of their vulnerability and many are highly reluctant to pursue litigation or other claims that might bring them to the attention of ICE or force them to appear in Court or at administrative agencies. For this reason, my administration has made it a priority to ensure that it is providing critical housing resources to this highly vulnerable sector of Somerville residents.

Jake Wilson, current City Councilor At Large:

I’ve found that fair housing is something a lot of people just assume is a reality, until you start hearing stories from Somerville residents about discriminatory landlords or realtors not showing apartments to families with small children.

City councilors have constituents come to us with fair housing questions, so it’s critical that every councilor knows the proper protocols for reporting fair housing complaints and the resources available locally and at the state level. Every municipality has their own way of handling fair housing complaints, so it’s vital that councilors familiarize themselves with the Fair Housing Commission’s online complaint and referral form, the Fair Housing Commission in general, our Inclusionary & Fair Housing Program Specialist in the Housing Division, and then the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and Mass Legal Help.

The City Council expanded Somerville’s Fair Housing Ordinance during my time on the council, so candidates should make sure they are up to speed with the current ordinance and the protected classes. It’s also a good opportunity to consider whether there are any additional updates to the ordinance that would make sense to consider.

As with other multiple-member bodies, I would recommend candidates attend a Fair Housing Commission meeting to see what the meetings are like and to better understand what commissioners are working on.

Willie Burnley, Jr., current City Councilor At Large:

City Council candidates

Kristen Strezo, current City Councilor At Large:

It’s an honor when someone entrusts their personal experiences to you. I would advise all candidates to listen to Somerville residents when they share their thoughts and concerns. These stories will help guide and shape your decisions on housing policy and more. Protecting residents from housing discrimination starts with listening, and continuing to fight for them. It puts a face to the issue that needs solving. Follow up with residents with resources on their rights.

Will Mbah, current City Councilor At Large:

I am running for a fourth term on the City Council and in my previous five and a half years, I have both advocated for the work of the Commission and conducted oversight of its operations and performance. It has been gratifying to me to observe the Commission working cooperatively with the Office of Housing Stability, which was newly created in 2018.  Together the two agencies have strengthened support and protection for the city’s renters and home-buyers by combining legal enforcement and legal services with financial assistance and relocation services.   

The question today is whether there are additional steps to be taken to make these services more effective and to expand their reach to individuals and families, who still may lack knowledge and access.  In particular, we have not yet made a decision on whether to pursue a Home Rule Petition, allowing the Somerville Fair Housing Commission to become a “substantially equivalent agency” with the state Commission (MCAD).  This would give the city authority to undertake administrative and court enforcement proceedings on behalf of applicants. Now all complaints must be referred to MCAD or other legal aid or federal and state enforcement agencies, facing delays and backlogs.

I would favor a City Council order that would require the Mayoral agencies to complete the study of the legal and practical questions and bring forward the text of an appropriate Home Rule petition within a six or nine month time period.   

I would advise new candidates and office holders that their most important role will be to keep the issues and work of Commission routinely in their discussions of housing needs and their outreach to constituents.  They should recognize the fair housing activities as an integral part of the full program of housing development, housing stability, and the programs of financial support for low income households. 

Actions of fair housing discrimination are one more symptom of the high-cost, high-demand and limited-supply housing market in the Boston region.  In many cases, discriminatory actions do arise from genuine bias or hostility, but many other actions are the sloppy practices of landlords or real estate professionals, trying to avoid the paperwork of voucher rentals or the awkwardness of conversations with non-English language clientele. 

Thus the most effective remedies to discrimination are likely to result from the programs that expand the housing supply and the component of affordable units available on the market.  Strengthening the linkage between the services and resources of Housing Stabilization with Fair Housing investigation and enforcement should be a key part of the strategy.  Similarly, the recent initiatives to amend the Condo Conversion Law should also be considered as an element of fair housing policy.  It will provide a longer period of notice to tenants when a landlord/owner proposes to convert and it will raise the levels of relocation compensation for displaced tenants, in particular senior citizens.   

Ben Ewen-Campen, current Councilor, Ward 3

Housing affordability is the issue that first inspired me to get involved in the local political process, and has been my top priority in office since day one. I have either led or been deeply involved in creating many laws, administrative changes, and statewide advocacy campaigns, and my experience has been very consistent: this sort of work can only be accomplished as part of a meaningful coalition. While all of us play important roles on the Council, no single local politician is a lone savior on housing issues, we can only accomplish things when we work together. We all take direct motivation from communities around the State and Country who are developing creative solutions, as well as from the talented professionals who work as City staffers and our non-profit partners, who work directly with people facing housing discrimination or other housing crises. We also recognize that the big changes we need (transfer fee, tenant right to purchase, rent stabilization) require action at the State House, and that meaningful changes there can only be accomplished with a massive and powerful coalition.

A few examples: I helped to co-found the Somerville Community Land Trust and have served as a board member ever since. But the SCLT was not the brain child of a single person, it was something that many of us in the community pushed for for years, and it began as a diverse working group supported by the Mayor and the City Council, and has always been an organization that depends on both hard-working insiders on the Board as well as broad-based community support.

Similarly, one of the issues that myself and others first ran on in 2017 was the creation of the Office of Housing Stability – which has turned out to be one of the single best decisions this City has ever made. But the idea of an OHS had already been pioneered by Boston and other cities, and of course relied heavily on the professional and organizational expertise that was brought by the OHS founding Director and many other City staff. The list goes on: always be open to learning about good ideas and ways to support them from the people who have been doing this work for years, and also don’t be afraid to contribute new ideas.

When it comes specifically to how to best protect residents against housing discrimination, the best tool we have is public education. There are in fact many laws, both local, State and Federal, that protect tenants against various forms of discrimination, but all too often landlords know that residents aren’t aware of them or don’t know how to protect themselves. So, spreading the word about resources as far and wide as possible – make sure that people know about the best place to contact is always the Office of Housing Stability, and that there are lots of other legal supports available (for example the Cambridge Somerville Legal Services and Greater Boston Legal Services.) Having these resources widely known in our community goes a long way to helping residents learn to identify and fight back against housing discrimination.

Jesse Clingan, current Councilor, Ward 4

Listen to those most impacted—immigrants, low-income tenants, and communities of color—and let their experiences shape your policies. Housing discrimination isn’t always obvious; it’s embedded in zoning, application processes, and access to legal resources. Use your platform to fight for equity, push back against powerful interests, and make sure vulnerable residents are protected and heard.

2. Are there any institutional structures in Somerville that you feel are barriers to fair housing? Is there anything that you would like to re-imagine or update?

Mayoral candidates

Katjana Ballantyne, current Mayor of Somerville:

As we seek to ensure fair housing in Somerville it is critical that we look at ALL our programs and policies and institutional structures to identify any unintended consequences relating to fair housing. For example, while increasing the stock of new rental housing in Somerville and throughout the region and state is critical, it may also be the case that new zoning may increase the incentives for landlords to renovate and increase the number of units and floors in their buildings with the unintended consequence of displacing existing residents. We must be bold as we look for supply side solutions to increasing housing but we cannot do so at the expense of driving up displacement. Finding ways to address both the need for increased supply and to proactively address any possible displacement pressures is critical to any successful and equitable housing strategy.

We must always be open to new ideas to decrease the costs of developing new housing without compromising important labor, tenant or environmental protections. Most recently my administration hired a consultant to help us evaluate whether there are any components of our zoning, permitting and other housing development processes which could or should be streamlined to make the development process less burdensome. I am looking forward to learning from and considering their recommendations. Last, my administration has also played a key role in local and statewide efforts to enhance tenant protections seeking passage of legislation for rent stabilization, the right for tenants to seal eviction records where warranted, the formation of a state Access to Counsel program to help undue the imbalance of power caused by disparities in legal representation, the passage of a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing and the elimination of most tenant paid broker’s fees. In order to see “fair housing” advanced in Somerville in a meaningful way we must conceive of this concept broadly and seek bold and innovative strategies that address a wide range of “fair housing” challenges in our present housing market.

Jake Wilson, current City Councilor At Large:

From attending a Fair Housing Commission meeting and speaking with commissioners outside of meetings, I know how crucial it is for the commission to have support from the staff liaison. The turnover in the staff liaison role and the resulting vacancy periods have made it more difficult for the commission to do its work. Improving employee retention would help, and we need to make sure there’s good backup coverage of the staff liaison duties in the event of a staff vacancy.

I’ve seen firsthand the work the commission puts into education and public awareness campaigns, particularly during Fair Housing Month each April. The City can and should lift up this work by coordinating a robust public education campaign using videos produced by CityTV, social media, and signage in high-visibility locations around the city.

Ultimately some complaints about discrimination can be difficult to substantiate. That’s where audits can be really helpful. A “secret shopper” program could be the answer, where different applicant profiles are submitted for the same rental listings and then any difference in responsiveness or answers about availability are documented.

I feel like we always can do better as a city at partnering with community groups to make sure we’re getting the message out about things like fair housing to all residents – and also connecting the community with the staff, commissions, and resources available to them.

Finally, it’s not technically an institutional structure in Somerville, but ensuring that complaints of discrimination are investigated in a timely fashion by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) is extremely important. I know the Fair Housing Commission named the backlog of complaints with MCAD in their most recent annual report as a challenge facing fair housing in Somerville, and this is something I’ve heard about from commissioners on other multi-member bodies, as well as from constituents. So working with our state delegation and potentially forming coalitions of municipal leaders to advocate for not allowing these backlogs to occur could make a real difference.

If MCAD proves unable to take up Somerville complaints in a timely manner, I like the idea of empowering the Fair Housing Commission to enforce federal fair housing law as a “substantially equivalent agency” to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Willie Burnley, Jr., current City Councilor At Large:

One of the key ways to follow up on reports of housing discrimination is to conduct fair housing checks. These are operations in which individuals with different backgrounds undergo an application process with the same qualifications in order to see if they are offered higher prices, are not told about certain amenities, are not given the chance to put in an offer, and overall gauge whether they are being discriminated against simply for their identity, their source of income, or (in Somerville) due to their family or relationship structure. However, during this year’s budget season, when I asked a representative whether the City currently conducts these checks or works with organizations to do so, she said no. During my time as an intern at the Equal Rights Center, a civil rights nonprofit that deals primarily in public accommodations, employment discrimination, and housing discrimination, I learned how to carry out these checks and about their utility for enforcing non-discrimination ordinances. As mayor, I would seek to either bolster staff to conduct these checks on landlords or brokers accused of housing discrimination or partner with nonprofits that could do so in order to root out these illegal activities.

City Council candidates

Kristen Strezo, current City Councilor At Large:

Quickly enacting change at the city level is sometimes hindered by having to ask permission via Home Rule Petition (HRP). I would love for us to be able to give the Somerville Fair Housing Commission more power to investigate fair housing violations like Boston or Cambridge’s Fair Housing Commissions can. While we are proactively exploring what we can do as a city in Somerville, the Commissions in Boston and Cambridge gained that ability decades ago. It may take years to win and enact a HRP for Somerville.

Another barrier to fair housing in Somerville is a lack of awareness around resources for residents. We need to make sure that Somerville residents know their renters’ rights and also, that they feel safe to report violations. Many residents may not know they have housing rights and some may be too afraid to report fair housing violations because they are afraid of landlord or management retaliation.

Some renters may be certain that they are being discriminated against, but may not know that they have rights or the ability to report Fair Housing violations–or how to report violations. I applaud the Somerville Fair Housing Commission for the work the Commission is doing.

Will Mbah, current City Councilor At Large:

I do not see the existing barriers to fair housing to be the results of overtly established structures or practices because we have already identified these and put into place the laws and procedures that have required them to change.  But again, as noted above, I see the persistence of discriminatory practices as a symptom of the pressures of a tight housing market and of lax practices to avoid the tasks of careful compliance.  Thus, our efforts at housing development, housing stabilization, support for tenants/buyers, and assistance to the industry to minimize burden and delay of process must work together. 

Ben Ewen-Campen, current Councilor, Ward 3

The City of Somerville has made truly extraordinary progress on housing justice over the past eight years, much of it inspired originally by the Sustainable Neighborhoods Working Group and the foundation of the Office of Housing Stability, and the various laws and policies that we have passed since 2018. However, the housing crisis remains completely out of control, and the cost of housing remains absolutely unaffordable to far too many residents. To be quite honest, if I was aware of existing institutional barriers in the Somerville government itself to fair housing I would already be working to change them, but I am always open to hearing feedback from residents, staff, or advocacy groups to learn how I can best support improving these systems.

Jesse Clingan, current Councilor, Ward 4

Yes. We lack sufficient tenant protections, legal aid, and language-accessible resources. I’d like to reimagine a housing system rooted in community control—expanding public and social housing, supporting land trusts, and treating housing as a human right, not a commodity.

— Somerville Fair Housing Commission