The Globe Sucks: Real Coverage of Affordable Housing Forum
Yesterday evening I attended the Gubernatorial Candidate's Forum on affordable housing and it was actually the first time I've seen all the candidates (including Grace Ross and excluding Kerry Healey) together at the same time. I knew at the time it would be a great opportunity for blogging, but must admit I didn't make the effort to take any notes because, well, I was lazy. But I do encourage you to read the liveblogging Andy did over at Mass Revolution Now!
I do want to comment on one thing relating to that event, and that is the horrendous coverage of this event in today's Globe.
Take a look at this article. If you did not attend the event, what does Steve LeBlanc's piece make you think the forum was about? Apparently the debate was about two things: access to public housing or undocumented residents and Deval Patrick's relationship with Ameriquest. While I admit that both are issues peripherally relevant to the topic of housing in Massachusetts, neither were the main focus of the event.
The Gubernatorial Forum on Affordable Housing was a project of the most important Affordable Housing advocacy organizations in the state, including: the Citizens Housing and Planning Agency (CHAPA), the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), and the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC). All of these organizations have been on the forefront of battles in this state for decades to expand affordable housing opportunities and funding at the state level, through leadership by residents across the state. The sad fact is that for every dollar spent by the Commonwealth for affordable housing in 1996, we spend just 36 cents today!
According to the sponsoring coalition, the purpose of this forum was to:
...discuss what policies and programs they would initiate to address the needs of affordable housing, homelessness prevention, and community development in Massachusetts.
Despite what it seems from the Globe coverage, this goal was accomplished. I must admit I was impressed by all the Democrats and by Grace Ross as to the extent of their knowledge on state zoning laws and affordable housing subsidy programs (Christy Mihos, on the other hand, had no idea what he was talking about and completely avoided some questions).
Most importantly for me, this forum completely exposed the hypocrisy of the three candidates present who support a roll back of the state tax rate. While Mihos, Gabrieli and Reilly all support moving from 5.3% to 5%, only Deval Patrick and Grace Ross had the leadership to admit that what may be politically expedient is not fiscally possible.
We all know the common statistic thrown around recently that throughout the Romney years Massachusetts has lost more population than any other state. Obviously this is due to a number of factors (including the unavoidable issue of unpleasant weather), but not least of which is the outrageous cost of housing. The fact is, unless we restore 1996 level housing funding (or higher) we can not even begin to address the housing problem -- a crisis which effects not just the lowest income residents in the state, but also the working class which was once the solid life-blood of manufacturing driven states like Massachusetts.
I've started to move away from my original point but I think the gist is clear. Steve LeBlanc did an outrageous disservice to Massachusetts voters by completely glossing over the real issues covered in last night's forum that must be addressed by the next governor. Undocumented immigration is just an election year ploy by the right to cushion their free fall, and Ameriquest is just a maneuver by the Reilly campaign to shoot Deval down from his skyrocketing popularity. Neither are issues that will have any real effect on the disastrous housing crisis in this state.
Contribute to Deval