Small landlords, especially owner occupants in older houses, control a large share of the affordable market-rate units we still have in Greater Boston. But many are still struggling due to the effects of the pandemic, and in some areas, like East Boston, they're being targeted heavily by prospective buyers.
In pandemic’s aftermath, small landlords are still feeling the pressure https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/25/business/pandemics-aftermath-small-landlords-are-still-feeling-pressure/
@marionsd ha was about to say @ef4 is talking about this too but now I see you’re carrying on a couple similar convos at once.
This story is off in a way that makes me ask “who’s PR firm pitched this?”. The kind of long-term, stable, mom and pop landlords they’re talking about have necessarily benefitted from huge price appreciation *and* had many recent opportunities to lock in historically low refinancing costs. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/25/business/pandemics-aftermath-small-landlords-are-still-feeling-pressure/
@marionsd @klaus I don’t that the scale of one’s building dictates whether or not you know your neighbors. I’ve lived in large & small buildings, and I’ve known my neighbors at every address I’ve lived at.
Stability is, ultimately, the arbiter of how plugged in someone can be to their community. If you’re not sure you’ll be here next year (or you’re constantly hustling to make rent) you’re less likely to get involved, y’know?
@jeffbyrnes @klaus There is extensive research about the challenges of social interactions in high-rise buildings. E.g. see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7369851/
I myself started at 473 Broadway, which isn't high-rise but is much bigger than triple-deckers, and I got to know exactly one neighbor, vs. quite a few while living in a house. It's not impossible to make connections, but it's harder. This is a key reason why public housing was reinvented as mid-rise buildings instead of towers.
Early studies conclude that high-rise apartment buildings present challenges for people’s quality of life, resulting in social isolation, social annoyance and anonymity for residents. Nevertheless, empirical research into factors supporting social ...
@marionsd As @klaus says, these small landlords only provide stability for as long as they’re here. Once they sell, it’s a crisis for their tenants b/c the new owners will move to recoup their costs & may need to renovate, which requires empty units.
Agree that there's no single solution.
Let’s remember that 3 deckers are energy inefficient, inaccessible to the disabled, and are all ~100 years old.
At some point, each & every one needs to be replaced, purely b/c nothing lasts forever.
@marionsd @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns most of them are still uninsulated. They can be retrofitted, but let’s remember that’s a form of upcycling (I.e., making those homes more expensive) and thus can encourage displacement b/c those costs need to recouped by the owner.
Keeping the buildings the same, but making them nicer, tends to displace in favor of higher-income households.
@marionsd @ef4 @klaus @StephanieLearns generally, mom & pop landlords have far less capacity & capital than corporate ones. So I disagree here: they’re generally less stable, and less able to maintain things, esp. if they’re stingy or strapped. The phrase “house poor” exists for a reason, y’know?
Everyone has a bad landlord story, and they’re just as often corporate as they are mom & pop.
Less about the form, more about if you’re lucky to have a landlord who’s not a jerk.
@marionsd @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns a new owner may not know about MassSaves (and maybe commercial owners aren’t eligible?)
Even w/ MassSaves though, you’re still talking about having to empty an apartment to do major renovations, which means somebody is gonna lose their home & be displaced to do those upgrades.
We still need more homes to accommodate folks.
Whatever we do, they’re not all going to disappear at once! We’ve many more years of having 3 deckers around.
@marionsd @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns oh for sure our home is otherwise great. The point is that MassSaves isn’t the end all & major renovations are always a challenge.
Some things work out better if we start over & build anew is my larger point, too.
@marionsd @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns to be clear: I’m not saying you did! And definitely, 3 deckers are better than 1 or 2 unit houses in terms of land use.
It starts getting interesting when we think about how Somerville might need to grow to be a home to 2 or 3 times as many people as it is today.
Far future for sure (though maybe not that far!)
@jeffbyrnes @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns For perspective, we're at almost 20,000 residents per square mile, among the top 20 most densely populated cities in the U.S. (Boston is ~50th). Doubling our density would put us up with Shanghai, and tripling would make us like Kolkata: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/07/11/the-50-most-densely-populated-cities-in-the-world/39664259/.
I want plentiful affordable housing with efficient use of land so we still have lots of green space and amenities, and room for growth (maybe up to 50%?), but not *quite* 2x or 3x.
@marionsd @klaus @ef4 @StephanieLearns Paris is 55k per sq mi. That tends to be my personal “density done well” guidepost.
Kolkata is 62k / sq mi, interesting it’s similar to Paris!
@marionsd Boston metro already needs ~100k more homes, and we remain an incredibly desirable place to live despite our high housing costs.
You’re right that, really, it’ll be everywhere around here working together, so no one muni bears the weight!
@klaus @noisecapella @marionsd @eherot @ef4 zoning is what restricts per-building density, so yep, we can change or get rid of that & see what happens!
Marion, our place is palatial (2500 sq ft) and we really do enjoy it, and there’s nothing wrong with that, so you’re plenty noble 😆 but it’d probably be smaller if >2 homes were allowed on our 7500 sq ft parcel 🤦🏻♂️
Marion Davis
Klaus
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