Defending the Right to Stay: Affordable Housing and Anti-Displacement in District 7
In Boston’s District 7—where Roxbury, parts of Dorchester, the South End, and Fenway converge—housing is more than just shelter. It’s community. It’s stability. It’s survival. Yet today, our neighborhoods are already being transformed. The forces of gentrification, speculative development, and the rollback of federal equity protections have already uprooted thousands of families, displaced lifelong residents, and erased pieces of our cultural identity. As your next City Councilor, I will fight to defend your right to stay in the place you call home.
Under the current Trump administration, DEI-related housing policies—especially those aimed at fair lending, tenant protections, and equitable zoning—are being rolled back at the federal level. From dismantling HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule to limiting federal support for nonprofit housing initiatives, these moves make it harder for working families, Black and Brown communities, and immigrant households to access or maintain affordable housing.
We have a clear choice in District 7: continue to let our neighborhoods be sold to the highest bidder—or organize to protect them.
The Stakes: What We Risk Losing
Without immediate and local action:
- Families who’ve lived in District 7 for generations will be priced out.
- Historic communities of color will be further fragmented and replaced by luxury condos.
- Our essential workers—teachers, nurses, transit workers—will be forced to live outside the city they serve.
- Cultural landmarks and multi-generational households will vanish beneath rising rents.
What District 7 Must Do
District 7 must lead the way in resisting displacement and redefining what a just housing ecosystem looks like in Boston.
1. Strengthen Tenant Protections
- Pass a Right to Counsel ordinance ensuring legal support for tenants facing eviction.
- Fund rent stabilization pilots in collaboration with state lawmakers to test legal rent control mechanisms.
- Expand eviction diversion and emergency rental assistance programs, prioritizing seniors, single parents, and undocumented families.
2. Promote Community-Controlled Development
- Invest in Community Land Trusts (CLTs) that keep housing permanently affordable.
- Support tenant opportunity to purchase (TOPA) legislation, giving renters first rights to buy their buildings when landlords sell.
- Require deep affordability thresholds—not just inclusionary units—in all new developments.
3. Protect Public Housing and Section 8 Tenants
- Fight for local oversight of BHA properties to ensure timely repairs, fair treatment, and transparency.
- Create a District 7 Housing Oversight Task Force to monitor conditions, hold slumlords accountable, and advocate for reinvestment.
- Push to protect and expand Section 8 acceptance across private rentals through city-backed incentives and landlord accountability.
4. Redefine Zoning for Equity
- Advocate for zoning reforms that promote multi-generational housing, mixed-income buildings, and co-ops.
- Block up-zoning efforts that favor luxury developments over deeply affordable units.
- Work to ensure disability-accessible and senior-friendly housing is prioritized in all new construction.
My Role as City Councilor
As your City Councilor, I will:
- Draft legislation to increase transparency in real estate transactions and prevent speculative flipping.
- Fight for a municipal Housing Equity Fund, built from developer linkage fees and commercial property taxes, to fund affordable construction.
- Partner with state allies to restore rent stabilization authority to municipalities.
- Work with housing justice coalitions to craft tenant-first policies and amplify resident voices in all decisions.
Housing is a human right. In District 7, that right has always been hard-won—and now it must be fiercely defended.
Why This Fight Matters
Affordable housing is not just a policy issue—it’s a racial justice issue. It’s an immigrant justice issue. It’s an economic justice issue. The dismantling of DEI policies at the federal level only amplifies the urgency to act locally.
We must preserve the soul of District 7—the aunties on the porch in Roxbury, the abuelas cooking in Dorchester, the elders in the South End who fought redlining and urban renewal. We owe them housing justice. We owe our children the chance to inherit a neighborhood, not a memory.
This is our moment to act.
Let’s keep District 7 rooted. Let’s defend the right to stay.
Donate to My Campaign and Join us in this right to stay.