To Chelsea residents who value affordable housing in our community: I encourage you to support the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in the November 8 vote.
Our city’s housing stock currently includes roughly 17% affordable units—a figure that surpasses every surrounding municipality. This percentage matters greatly. We should take pride in it, as it reflects our commitment to maintaining diversity and our role as a gateway city serving our most vulnerable populations. However, this 17% faces erosion. New market-rate rental developments without affordability requirements will shrink it. Conversions of existing multi-family buildings to condominiums will further reduce it. These pressures are already operating in Chelsea, with a predictable outcome: gentrification.
My background includes service on the city’s Economic Development committee during housing project approvals, nine years as your Treasurer, and membership on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund board. I have called Chelsea home for sixteen years—longer than anywhere else—and have witnessed substantial transformations in our city, some positive and some troubling. Investment by developers benefits us. Property owners maintaining and upgrading their residences benefits us. Losing affordable units as rents climb in remaining rentals does not. While I don’t view gentrification as inherently negative—”fblikebutton_button”—I believe we must actively shape this change rather than passively accept it. Steering the gentrification locomotive requires powerful instruments. The Community Preservation Act stands as perhaps our strongest mechanism to prevent affordability dilution. The City Council and City Manager Tom Ambrosino recognize this wisdom in their CPA support.
The CPA functions as a state-authorized financing tool allowing communities to impose a modest supplemental real estate tax. Our city council proposes 1.5%. The state then matches this revenue with substantially larger contributions. Combined funds support affordable housing, open space and recreation, and historic preservation, allocated by a municipal board among these three areas. Of 161 communities adopting the CPA, most directed the majority of revenue toward affordable housing. I estimate my personal tax bill will increase by approximately $50. This investment seems worthwhile to generate funds preventing further affordability erosion. As a community gardener and board member of GreenRoots, a newly established Chelsea nonprofit addressing environmental justice, I welcome that my contribution and state matching funds will expand open space and support historic preservation. We project approximately $600,000 in CPA-generated revenue for these three purposes.
I urge Chelsea residents to actively influence the changes reshaping our city. The Community Preservation Act provides the means to direct our course. Vote for the CPA this November.
Robert Boulrice
Orange Street