Leadership on Affordability

Mayor Katjana's Leadership on Affordability and Anti-Displacement

As Mayor, she is using every tool available to make Somerville more affordable. She's been punching above her weight for decades, to ensure that Somerville wlil do her part to end the regional housing crisis.

In only three years Mayor Katjana has made real progress on affordability, she's delivered results that matter in Somerville

• She has added an historic 964 housing units in the permitting, construction pipeline
• Her administration has made real progress on affordable housing, she's added 974 new affordable housing units to the development pipeline
• Distributed over $9 million in rental assistance and housing vouchers to help families stay in Somerville
• Completed the Clarendon Hill redevelopment Apartments, 168 new, affordable family homes. These will be efficient and fossil fuel free. The first phase of which she led from inception to completion, as councilor and mayor
• Created the anti-displacement task force

Mayor Ballantyne is also creating good jobs with good pay

• She created fair, equitable pay and benefits for city workers by renegotiating union labor contracts
• She is overwhelmingly endorsed by Labor as the Workers' Mayor, for her support for local workers and families

Mayor Katjana's new zoning for Somernova, Brickbottom and Assembly Square will create affordability and good jobs for years to come

• Her Somernova zoning for Somerville Ave just passed, which will provide $33 Million dollars to the AHTF and $4.3 Million dollars to the JRTF
• She brought unions and the developer to the table to make an excellent PLA project labor agreement that will provide good jobs for decades to come
• Her zoning for Brickbottom will provide $50 Million dollars to the AHTF and $0.5 Million dollars to the JRTF
• Her zoning for Assembly/Home Depot area will provide $112 Million dollars to the AHTF and $14 Million dollars to the JRTF

Mayor Ballantyne has a long history of making Somerville more affordable, including

• As Project Director for Workforce Development for the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, she led an organization that provided training, jobs linkage, career ladders for disadvantaged residents.
• As a volunteer, board member, and Board President of Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) for ten years, Katjana worked successfully for over a decade to develop affordable housing and to connect Somerville residents with jobs training and jobs linkage programs.

As a city councilor, Katjana has sponsored and supported groundbreaking programs to improve housing affordability and job opportunities

• Supported Somerville’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance that requires 20% of new housing units to be affordable / inclusionary housing, and with density bonuses for additional affordable housing development
• Supported District Increment Financing (DIF) to finance affordable housing creation
• Supported the 100 Homes Program to buy open market homes and convert them to affordable units
• Supported the Ordinance for Condo Conversion, giving tenants a right of first refusal to purchase the homes they currently rent; Katjana proposed an amendment to allow first priority to convert for family members
• Supported the creation of The Office of Housing Stability to provide housing resources for residents who need assistance
• Sponsored a Home Rule Petition to allow us to require Institutional Master Planning for large institutions in our revised Zoning Code
• Supported and advocated for the Jobs Creation and Retention Trust Fund, which requires developers to pay for enhanced job opportunities and training for Somerville residents
• Supported the creation of the Talent Equity Playbook, planning to bring thousands of new jobs to Somerville by 2030

Mayor Ballantyne understands that affordability is a two-sided coin: one side is how to address the rising cost of living; the other side is how to nurture equitable opportunities for better jobs and incomes. She's using every tool to give Somerville residents the whole coin. Mayor Katjana understands that for Somerville to thrive, we need to work together both for affordable living costs and for good jobs. Katjana has a proven record of working successfully toward both goals, as a nonprofit administrator, volunteer, and city councilor.