Acting to preserve our community

At tonight’s council meeting, we appropriated community preservation funds raised by the city’s FY 2008 CPA surcharge as well as the FY 2007 state match.

The state’s Community Preservation Act has been a tremendous benefit to our community. By essentially levying some property taxes via a surcharge, and placing them in a separate fund, we have been able to secure tens of millions of dollars in state matching funds. For fiscal year 2008 (the budget year ending June 30, 2008) we estimate that the city’s CPA surcharge of $5.8 million will be matched dollar for dollar by the state. Since its inception, the state match has been over $20 million.

We have to divide the money between affordable housing, open space and historic preservation, with at least 10 percent going to each. I have consistently supported spending the maximum 80 percent for affordable housing. While we spend additional money on all three of these areas, the need for affordable housing in our community is stunning in its scope. According to a recent survey of rental housing in the city showed no studio or one bedroom apartments were affordable to one person households earning below $29,540 (50% of area median income), and no two or three bedroom apartments were affordable to four person households earning below $42,050 (50% of area median income). If we’re serious as a community about our commitment to economic diversity, we need to step up to provide affordable housing options for some of these Cambridge families.