Affordability and Jobs

Mayor Katjana has worked successfully to increase and protect affordability in Somerville for decades.

Katjana’s real-world experience creating affordability includes working for a non-profit, affordable housing developer and she’s done that twice; once with Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC), as a career ladders program director, and as board president of Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) creating affordable housing and jobs access.

In Katjana’s eight years as a councilor and as the twice-elected president of the city council, Katjana has sponsored, supported and voted for many initiatives to make housing and Somerville more affordable such as:

• The Office of Housing Stability
• Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) requiring 20% affordable units in new housing development
• The 2000 Homes Program, The Ordinance for Condo Conversion, The Affordable Housing Overlay District Zoning Amendment
• The Short-Term Rental Ordinance
• The Community Land Trust
• The Fair Housing Commission, On-Campus Housing for students, and more

Katjana knows that while we have made progress toward affordability in Somerville, we have much more to do to make Somerville affordable, and she is uniquely qualified with the skills and experience to lead us to an affordable Somerville where we can all thrive together.

Mayor Katjana believes that housing is a basic, human right

She understands that housing security is fundamental to having food security, safety, education and employment opportunities. Stable, affordable housing is the foundation that enables all other kinds of social equity. Vulnerable community groups including single-parent households, minorities and immigrants are disproportionately excluded by the most common systems and structures that we use to secure safe housing, healthy food, good education, and living-wage jobs.

Somerville Affordable Housing

Mayor Katjana will continue to use every tool available to create, expand, maintain and protect affordability and affordable housing. Mayor Katjana understands affordability to be like a coin, which has two sides

One side of the coin represents an affordable cost of living; affordable housing, housing stability assistance programs, and supports like rent subsidies and the guaranteed basic income programs (that she started in Somerville). The other side of the coin represents the economic development, job creation, and job training that helps residents to have access to good jobs and the fair pay that allows them to afford the cost of housing and other living costs. Mayor Katjana has worked successfully for decades to give Somerville residents the whole coin.

Affordability & Jobs - Accomplishments

To help Residents to have access to good, local jobs, Katjana’s administration
Created pay equity standards for all employees union and non-union employees

• Launched a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) Pilot to aid our lowest-income residents – the first of its kind in Somerville
• Committed more than $5 million in pandemic relief to local businesses
• Committed $500,000 in grant support for the nonprofit Arts at the Armory
• Created development carve outs of up to 550,000 square feet of new arts space to propel our vibrant arts community. We will work with our arts community to seize these opportunities
• Created and expanded workforce training, through our schools’ adult learning center, SCALE, and our City Division of SomerPromise
• Expand job training for all ages, including launching “Let’s Get Workin’: a partnership between DPW and the High School’s Center for Career and Technical Education to offer paid, hands-on job training in professions like HVAC, plumbing, and carpentry
• Launched new efforts to market businesses and skill-building support training
• We hired our first ever Digital Bridge Coordinator to build internet and device access as well as digital literacy for our most vulnerable neighborhoods. The fast pace of that work has already garnered Somerville recognition as a Digital Inclusion Trailblazer. Digital literacy helps residents to find good jobs

Economic Development - Accomplishments

To develop our economy with a focus on supporting Somerville residents, local and small businesses, Mayor Katjana

• Committed more than $5 million in pandemic relief, and we launched new efforts to market our businesses and skill-building supports
• Expanded job training for all ages, including launching “Let’s Get Workin’: a partnership between DPW and the High School’s Center for Career and Technical Education to offer paid, hands-on job training in professions like HVAC, plumbing, and carpentry.
• Established fiscal controls and reforms that achieved Somerville’s first triple A bond rating from Standard and Poor, which lowers our cost of borrowing. And we’ve maintained that high rating for three years running.

Housing Stability - Accomplishments

To increase housing stability, affordability, and to prevent displacement, Katjana’s administration

• Distributed over $9.5 million in flexible rental assistance, helping more than 400 households
• Established the City’s first-ever Stabilization Fund for persons put out of their homes by emergencies like fires or floods.
• Provided rental subsidies that have moved 29 families from uncertainty to safe, permanent housing with our new, Municipal Voucher Program
• Purchased 15 units that would have become expensive, market-rate housing, using our groundbreaking Early Action
• Acquisition Fund
• Funded the development of 60 income-restricted housing units
• Entered 684 units into our affordable housing pipeline. That’s 684 real projects in permitting or development

Expanding Affordable Housing

Mayor Katjana’s affordable housing accomplishments include:

• Early Action Acquisition Fund: Mayor Ballantyne has leveraged innovative financial tools to expand the city's affordable housing stock. The Early Action Acquisition Fund has enabled the purchase of existing housing units and the development of new income-restricted housing, ensuring that affordable options remain available amidst rising housing costs.
• Affordable Housing Pipeline: The City has actively fostered the development of affordable housing, with 684 units currently in the permitting or development pipeline. This commitment to expanding affordable housing options is crucial for long-term housing stability.
• Sealing Eviction Records: To promote housing access and opportunity, the City has implemented a policy to seal eviction records for no-fault evictions. This measure helps prevent past housing challenges from unfairly impacting individuals' ability to secure future housing.
• Mayor Katjana will continue to use every tool available to create, expand, maintain and protect affordability and affordable housing.

Mayor Katjana knows that while we have made progress toward affordability in Somerville, we have much more to do to make Somerville affordable, and she is uniquely qualified with the skills and experience to lead us to an affordable Somerville where we can all thrive together.