• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

RENT CONTROL REQUIRED

Written by JENNA JACKSON Posted September 5, 2019 Filed Under: COLUMNS, NEWS+OPINIONS, Op-Ed

 

Single mother working for the city of Boston can’t afford to live here

 

A city employee is often required to live within the city in which they are employed. Luckily, in my case that is not a requirement. It’s not recommended that an individual pay more than 30% of their gross monthly income towards rent. Thirty percent of my monthly gross income is approximately $1,230, and finding even a studio within the city of Boston for that price is basically impossible.


I recently browsed the city of Boston’s website looking for affordable housing opportunities. Studio $2,550, one bedroom $2,310; affordable in whose eyes, I have to wonder. I have applied for several tax-credit units throughout the city and have been wait-listed, time and again. I’m actually quite savvy when it comes to the ins and outs of affordable housing. I’ve been working in the field for well over 10 years now, but the irony is that I still can’t afford housing.


I’m a single mother of one daughter. She’s eight years old. In order to remain as a full-time city employee I must pay for her to attend an after-school program; it costs about $285 a month. I don’t receive child support because I actually make more money than her father, and since the two of us parted ways amicably and split physical and legal custody down the middle, I’m not entitled to child support or alimony. I make too much money to qualify for SNAP (aka food stamps), too much money to get assistance paying child care or transportation expenses, and too much money to qualify for most of the city’s subsidized housing. To be honest, I really don’t want that type of financial assistance. I don’t want to have to disclose all of my information to any agency in exchange for financial assistance. I’d prefer to do it on my own. I simply want to be able to afford to pay rent in place where my daughter and I can have a little privacy. Right now, we share a rental with her father, aunt, and cousin. Yes, I live with my ex-husband and his family quite simply because I don’t have any other choice.


My mom and dad passed away years ago, and my only sister lives in Vermont and struggles financially to care for herself; so, I’m pretty much on my own. I moved to Boston in 2004 after graduating from college in search of opportunity and excitement. I initially lived in a cute little dilapidated studio/one-bedroom unit in the Fenway for $1,075. It was expensive but affordable, especially considering the location and the fact that I lived with my husband, at the time. We always split all the bills down the middle. After two years, the owner presented us with a proposed rent increase and, as a result, we moved to a nice little one-bedroom in the North End, nothing included, but it was beautiful and only $1,100 a month. Unfortunately the landlady turned out to be a former mafia wife, and we had to move again a year later. It was just too much going on.


This is when we decided to take it outside of the city to Malden. We moved to a huge two-bedroom. It was great for about $1,200 a month and we stayed there until I got pregnant with my daughter. The landlord then offered us another two-bedroom in Malden, which was much smaller but happened to be deleaded, for about $1,350. It was a big jump in rent but we felt like it was the right thing to do, at the time. After about two years, we were forced to move. We could no longer afford to live there with all the new expenses that were brought on by having a child. We moved into small two-bedroom in a less than desirable neighborhood in East Boston for $1,200 a month.


One thing led to the next, and my husband and I separated. I could officially no longer afford to live in the city of Boston. I tried but after about three months, I couldn’t juggle all the expenses involved. This is when I had to move back in with my now ex-husband. I’ve been in my current living situation for just about five years. During that time, I’ve had so many doors closed in my face, I can’t even begin to tell you. Apparently, people aren’t really interested in renting to a single mother.


The rents in and around Boston continue to skyrocket. Politicians want you to believe that with all the new development in Boston comes more affordable units. Such as studios for $2,250, which even as a full-time city employee would be well over 50% of my gross monthly income. This price would afford me a room to share with my daughter potentially with a stove and refrigerator. Why not reimplement rent control? Politicians want you to believe that rent control would cease development in the city, but that’s simply not true. The city will continue to grow with or without rent control and for argument’s sake, haven’t we seen enough growth over the past 10 years? Look at the Seaport.


Politicians are well aware that they’re gentrifying Boston street by street and day by day, and they don’t care. If they did, they would be working to stop it or to make changes that would necessitate housing we can afford, not “affordable housing.” A term that’s come to mean very little to the residents of Boston.


Another popular myth says that small owners will pay the biggest price. Why can’t the rules or regulations be applied only to owners with 12-plus units or something along those lines? Truth be told, how many small owners are investing any portion of your rent back into the property? I can’t even get mine out to stop the smoke alarm from randomly going off throughout the day and night. Boston, if we don’t push to implement something “extreme” like rent control, those of us who don’t own property will soon be forced as far north as Manchester, New Hampshire, and as far west as Framingham and Worcester, as far south as Brockton. It’s happening, and we’re allowing it to happen.

 

*Jenna Jackson is the pseudonym of an employee of the city of Boston.

JENNA JACKSON
More from author
    This author does not have any more posts.

Filed Under: COLUMNS, NEWS+OPINIONS, Op-Ed Tagged With: Boston, city, crisis, criticism, employee, Housing, rent control, single mother

WHAT’S NEW

DEAR GLOBE READERS LAUNCHES AS PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN

DEAR GLOBE READERS LAUNCHES AS PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN

SOULDIER STORY: JOEL MASSICOT ON MIXING MARTIAL ARTS, DANCE, AND MILITARY INFLUENCES

SOULDIER STORY: JOEL MASSICOT ON MIXING MARTIAL ARTS, DANCE, AND MILITARY INFLUENCES

THE END OF THE WORLD IN AN AIRBNB

THE END OF THE WORLD IN AN AIRBNB

MEETING THREATS WITH HOPE AND COURAGE

MEETING THREATS WITH HOPE AND COURAGE

TITANIC SHIFTS: DEMS SWAP DECK CHAIRS AMIDST GOP-PROVOKED TSUNAMI

TITANIC SHIFTS: DEMS SWAP DECK CHAIRS AMIDST GOP-PROVOKED TSUNAMI

NEARLY A YEAR INTO PANDEMIC, MASS CATS ARE STILL SHORT ON FOOD

NEARLY A YEAR INTO PANDEMIC, MASS CATS ARE STILL SHORT ON FOOD

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • APPOINTED SOMERVILLE OFFICIAL SPURS OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC MOB SCENE by MARC LEVY
  • Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common. CC BY-SA 4.0 2017 by AbhiSuryawanshi. NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM by MATTHEW ANDREWS
  • VIDEO: COP WHO BRAGGED THAT HE HIT PROTESTERS SHOWS HOW BAD APPLES THRIVE IN BOSTON by CHRIS FARAONE
  • PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS by SARAH BETANCOURT
  • IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT? by ZACK HUFFMAN

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

Footer

digbos

BETTER #BOSTON #ARTS: JAINA CIPRIANO. “The solut BETTER #BOSTON #ARTS: JAINA CIPRIANO. “The solution lies in collaborative spaces.” https://digboston.com/better-boston-arts-jaina-cipriano/ #bosarts #artist #interview #future #vision @CiprianoJaina #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“It started as a vision I had while listening to “It started as a vision I had while listening to the song over and over again during the early stages of the quarantine.” https://digboston.com/the-quins-talk-making-awesome-videos-in-quarantine/ #interview #video #music #art #arts #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“We were all caught pretty off guard when the pa “We were all caught pretty off guard when the pandemic hit, but I think that using the resources that we have available to us we have been able to meet the demand at every step.” https://digboston.com/handling-the-herd-how-boston-built-its-massive-covid-testing-apparatus/ #politics #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker started the new year Republican Gov. Charlie Baker started the new year by vetoing a sweeping #climate change bill. https://digboston.com/titanic-shifts-dems-swap-deck-chairs-amidst-gop-provoked-tsunami/ #politics #news #Democrats #GOP #Boston #Massachusetts #USA #veto
“Trump was voted out. However, this is not a man “Trump was voted out. However, this is not a mandate for #Biden and #Harris.” https://digboston.com/photos-recap-no-honeymoon-for-biden-rally-in-boston/ #photo #rally #march #left #protest #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM? #Boston #protest for Indian farmers, Saturday 1/23/21, 12-1 pm at the #Massachusetts State House https://digboston.com/opinion-is-dissent-anti-nationalism-or-patriotism/ #India #politics #food #farmer #protest #justice #solidarity @monica_gill1
HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO A HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP https://digboston.com/no-justice-how-officials-in-one-mass-town-took-extraordinary-measures-to-appease-a-controversial-cop/ #ArlingtonMA #police #reform #cop #racism #controversy #BlackLivesMatter #Massachusetts
Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for host Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers … What happens to those #jobs if virtual kitchens continue to flourish? https://digboston.com/ghost-story-virtual-kitchens-appear-to-be-the-next-big-thing-but-at-what-cost/ #restaurant #labor #work #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan “I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan. 7 in the same country we went to bed in on the 6th.” https://digboston.com/former-mass-gubernatorial-candidate-predicted-violence-before-assault-on-capitol/ #politics #Massachusetts #national #Capitol #WashingtonDC #MAGA
RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL http RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL https://digboston.com/radical-and-relevant-the-life-of-harry-brill/ #obituary #organizer #radical #sociologist #democracy #politics @UMassBoston @BklynCollege411 @UCBerkeley #Boston #Massachusetts #NewYorkCity #Berkeley #California
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]