Homes for Salem, Part I: The Housing Market
Housing is an essential part of what makes Salem a strong and welcoming community; however, the market is not supplying homes that are affordable for long time Salem residents or local Salem workers. To help residents better understand the housing crisis in Salem and what can be done about it, the City and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council are today launching Homes for Salem, a four-part video series, that explains the importance of creating affordable housing policies in Salem.
“If we want to continue to be the type of community we are today, a place that welcomes people of different backgrounds and income levels, we need to be thoughtful about our policies,” said Mayor Kimberley Driscoll. “Without these changes, people who have lived all their lives here in Salem will continue to be priced out of the community they call home. These videos will help explain why we’re in this situation today and, most importantly, what we can do about it together.”
The video series begins with an introduction to the housing market in Salem and includes reflections from Salem residents and local workers on their experiences with finding affordable places to live in Salem. A new video in the four-part series will be published daily at https://tinyurl.com/HomesForSalem starting May 20, 2019.
A Salem household earning the renter median income of $37,396 can afford $935 a month on rent. However, the 2017 median rental price of a 1-bedroom unit in Salem was $1,675, 54% of the median monthly income, and the median rental price of a 2-bedroom unit was $1,970, 63% of the median monthly income (ACS 2013-17, MAPC Rental Listings Database).
“If you’re spending more than 50% of your paycheck in rent, soon enough you’re going to find yourself in a position where you’ll be asking yourself: what bill do I pay this month,” explains local real estate broker, Cynthia Nina-Soto.
Executive Director of Harborlight Community Partners, Andrew DeFranza, highlights that the market is not making housing for community members who earn $40,000 a year. “They are in the workforce; their employers need them to do that and we as a society need them to do their job. Therefore, we need to have housing as a matter of public infrastructure, just like we need to have water, or clean air or access to health care.”
Alan Dionne, Deputy Chief of the Salem Fire Department, agrees, adding “it is essential that we populate our community with people who can work here.”
Mayor Driscoll, Cynthia Nina-Soto, Andrew DeFranza, and Deputy Chief Dionne are among the many voices appearing in Homes for Salem.
To stay up to date on housing matters in Salem, checkout https://imaginesalem.org/housing and signup for updates at bit.ly/salemhousing.