What does it take to build a successful campaign for affordable housing?
As CAAS waits for updates on the Statewide FY24 Budget, we wanted to look back on Somerville City Budget Campaign led earlier this year. Governor Healey’s vetoes have the largest impact on our Community Organizing program. However, this program creates opportunity for historically underrepresented people to become community leaders, and is vital for transforming local policy. We hope that the legislature will override these vetoes, and regardless, we will continue advocating for housing justice in Somerville.
With the finalization of the Somerville FY (fiscal year) 2024 Budget in June of 2023, we were thrilled to see more funding going towards affordable housing in the city–funding that will go towards a new emergency housing stabilization fund, deeply needed flexible rental assistance, and increased capacity for the Office of Housing Stability and the Planning Division, among other things. But the increase in funding wasn’t a coincidence. It was the result of over a year of effort on the parts of dedicated community members, CAAS Community Organizers, and the people across the city who came forward to advocate for housing in the city budget. Today, we’re answering this question: What does it take to build a movement that not only attempts to, but succeeds in, winning funding for affordable housing?
The seeds of this campaign were planted back in May 2022 with the graduation of our first cohort of Leadership Development Institute (LDI) members. After four weeks of training around community organizing, the cohort, made up of 16 highly-motivated community members, set out to identify the areas where they could have the biggest impact on affordable housing. The group quickly realized that a significant amount of local power lies in the City of Somerville Budget. One of the most important documents created by the City each year, the general operating budget decides what services will be funded in Somerville for the following year. However, the process can feel out of reach and inaccessible to most members of the general public. And when thinking of numbers on this scale, often in the thousands or millions of dollars, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and disenchanted, leading most people to avoid the topic altogether. But as new members of the Somerville Renters Committee (SRC), the group chose not to shy away, and instead did the research to not only understand the process, but to make it more accessible. In doing so, they were able to educate and empower their neighbors to take action.
The May 2022 cohort of LDI graduates tried to mobilize during the FY23 City Budget process, but realized during the process that with only a few months to prepare, they didn’t have the time or resources to organize broadly enough for an effective campaign. Instead, they put that time and effort into preparing a longer-term campaign, looking a year ahead towards FY24.
Now confident in their understanding of the City Budget process, the SRC had the foundations for their campaign. They better understood where funding could be allocated to make the largest impact in the community, and knew who had the power to secure that funding. The next step was speaking face-to-face with Somerville’s elected officials to tell them that truly affordable housing needed to be a priority during the next City Budget process. The SRC met with Mayor Katjana Ballentyne in September 2022. This was a major first step in helping the SRC to connect directly with members of the local government.
In February of 2023, with the FY24 budget process about to begin, the Renters Committee launched their first major public campaign: Demanding $12 Million in “Free Cash” for Affordable Housing. The City of Somerville had $39 million in 2022 budget surplus reserves – funds known as “free cash.” The group called for at least 30% of the money to go towards affordable housing, reflecting the suggested proportion of income that residents put towards their own housing. Calling on the community, the team hosted advocacy hours leading up to the Mayor’s presentation of the Free Cash plan to the City Council Finance Committee, where they encouraged others to speak up in support.
The group had worked hard to mobilize, writing letters, emails, and making phone calls to the Mayor and City Council. Their message was eventually heard by their representatives, but the campaign did not yield immediate results that winter. When the Finance Committee met in the first week of March, the Mayor’s Office announced a tentative agreement of $3 million in Free Cash towards rental assistance and an emergency stabilization fund. It was a number far below the requested $12 million, and came with no firm commitment to ensure it would be allocated accordingly.
While they had gotten a step closer to their goals, it was difficult for the SRC members to see the campaign as a success. Still, the members were disheartened, but not defeated. The Free Cash campaign engaged dozens of new residents, helping expand and strengthen their housing justice movement. Putting their disappointment aside, they decided to shift their focus towards the general operating budget as a way to ensure concrete funds to affordable housing, and leverage the community’s growing collective power.
Once the FY24 City Budget Process was officially underway, the team ramped up their organizing efforts. Organizing with other community members and grassroots activists, the SRC demanded that the Mayor allocate the city’s budget towards community needs. CAAS and the SRC held a vigil outside of City Hall on June 1st, mourning the displacement of their neighbors in Somerville, before heading inside to attend a public hearing on the budget. More than 50 people attended the vigil, and about half of the group went into City Hall to observe the Mayor’s presentation. For many, this was the first time they had gone inside City Hall and were able to see first-hand how policy is decided.
What followed soon after was a Public Hearing over Zoom on June 5th. Lasting over four hours, more than 90 members of the public came forward to describe their experiences searching for housing in Somerville, and demanded that the city councilors make affordable housing the number one priority in the budget.
The final leg of the campaign quickly approached on June 21st. Known as “Cut Night”, this was the moment where the City Councilors would gather to decide what parts of the proposed budget to cut and propose reallocations. In collaboration with Defund Somerville Police and parents of the Winter Hill School students, the SRC hosted another action – this time a rally for key budget priorities. The SRC members could see and hear the power of the movement they had worked to build. After a few hours of debate between Councilors for cuts and reallocations, the Mayor had less than 24 hours to incorporate these resolutions for the final proposal. One day later, the City Budget was finalized.
After over a year of research, relationship-building, and continuous time and energy poured into the campaign, the SRC was able to accomplish much of their goals. Approved in 10-1 vote, and thanks largely to the work of CAAS, the Somerville Renters Committee, and the people who came together to advocate for housing, the final FY24 budget included:
New funding for another Planning position to increase zoning tools for affordable housing
More funds for the Office of Housing Stability’s tenant legal aid services
An additional $82,715 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which may be used for rental assistance or more affordable housing
Approval of the Mayor’s allocation of $3 million of Free Cash for flexible rental assistance, and $300k of Free Cash for an emergency housing stabilization fund for those impacted by crises
Although this was a smaller amount than what they had campaigned for, members of the SRC realized that by organizing, they had still made an important impact. Camilla Gutierrez-Plata, a staff Community Organizer at CAAS added, “$3 million is more than $0, and if we had not been there it would probably still be $0.”
One of the members of the SRC shared, “Sometimes they want to make it look super complicated – like we say “regular people”, maybe they won’t understand very well and wouldn’t know how to express themselves.” She added “[My] favorite part was when we were in person at City Hall [in June 2023], we could see the way representatives communicate between themselves – they want to over complicate it and complicate it for us, so that we can’t understand and want to go away. But if we put our minds to it, we can understand a little more.”
Securing this funding was a major step forward for affordable housing in Somerville and for the Somerville Renters Committee. While the members of the Committee celebrate these successes, they are already looking towards the next year. Ending the displacement crisis in Somerville won’t happen in a day, month, or even a year. But now armed with knowledge, confidence and experience, the leaders are ready to continue fighting and building our local movement for housing justice.