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Sorry, but respectfully, the privilege is so thick in this op-ed.

The median household income in Framingham is approximately 100k. The median home price is approximately 618k.

I know it's difficult to walk in someone else's shoes, but try to understand what it's like for other younger generations. We're faced with financial crisis after crisis and a housing market where homes are 4x to 6x median income. The rental and condo market is kept to mostly 1 or 2 bedrooms putting millennials and younger who have families into serious conflict with their landlords when they have kids.

We personally faced being kicked out of our apartment when our lease renewal came up in 2016 because we were pregnant and going to exceed the maximum occupancy for our Natick apartment. Renting 3br units was nearly impossible within 1+ hr commute to Boston. They are a tiny fraction of the inventory and landlords discriminate against families due to the lead mitigation laws. We wouldn't be permitted to renew our lease with another baby on the way so had to desperately try to find a house for far over asking price with all contingencies waved and that was back in 2016/17. I thought we were being insane to do so. But it's only gotten worse since.

I refuse to pull the ladder up behind me like so many others have done with this nimbyism. If people in Framingham don't like the growth they are free to put their home on the market and move somewhere else. Younger families desperately need homes in this area to purchase. There are plenty of dead and dying towns with no growth and no potential. I know... I grew up in one and yes we have issues and growth will have pain points but stagnation and watching your town slowly die is IMO far worse.

I work with plenty of people my age in their 30's and 40's and it's sad how many can't start a family because of how unstable their housing is. These are college educated professionals in what used to be good careers, and the housing shortage is like a boot on our neck. We need more housing for families, and we need it yesterday. Yes there will be consequences and difficult problems but we need to deal with those problems instead of continuing to push them off to save pennies now. My generation has inherited a world where our prospects are worse than our parents because of the decisions and policies they supported. It's time for a change and time for my generation to have a chance to fix this crap.

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I agree with you totally.

If Nobscot did go ahead, it is likely that the price on a 3BR condo would be north of $500,000, which does not solve the cost problem, just produces a hefty profit for developers. I moved out to Framingham in 2014, selling my 2 family home in Newton. I could not afford a home there. Currently, I could not afford to buy a single family in Framingham. The big need is for low cost housing and I don't see the MBTA Communities Law solving that. I managed rental properties for 40 years as my second job and kept rents reasonable by raising them by inflation. The rents I see in Framingham are so high I cannot believe it. My son is involved in property renovations and the increased cost of contractors and materials is a killer.

The only way I can proceed is to block projects like Nobscot which won't help anyone wanting more affordable housing, but which will damage the school system, plus push for making pre-K free and universal, expanding Keefe Tech which has 300 kids on a wait list, adopting the Residential Exemption to help lower income home owners make it, cut water & sewer rates and deal with capital projects through property tax increases. Those moves lower the cost of living for lower income families. The biggest problem at the moment is expanding affordable housing and the only way it seems possible to do that is the provide incentives at the state and federal level to lower construction costs and to expand the work force which does construction. Both Democrats and Republicans need to make that a priority. For almost 40 years, the working class in the US has been neglected in favor of the very rich and the 30% of the population which goes to college. That has to end.

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I appreciate the work you put into this newsletter, but I disagree with you on the Nobscot development/zoning change. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. Based on the back-of-the-envelope math from your last newsletter about this development, the census numbers you mention here suggest that this development would net bring revenue to the city. If units are priced at $500k on average, cost of student is $9.5k, there are 390 new students, and property taxes remain at 1.246%, this development would net $151,900 in property tax revenue above education costs (per year).

2. You discuss the risk that this development has more children than the average from the census data (0.63/HH for 3BR) because it's a new building and will attract younger families/fewer empty nesters. I'm not so sure about that. There will probably be some empty nesters who move in because they want to downsize (yes, to a 2-3BR) and not have to deal with yardwork. And there will be other household types moving in (married without kids, adults with roommates, maybe even a few FSU students). And the above math is based on assuming all 620 units are 3 BR. I bet there will be other sized units in any development (likely 2BR), so I already think that's a conservative estimate. Also there is risk the condo prices are higher/lower than the $500k we're assuming.

3. What this all gets at is that cheaper family housing is a net drain on the city's resources. I think it's good to keep our eye on the city's revenue and expenses (hence I read your newsletter). But should we just make it illegal to build cheap family housing? Wouldn't this logic prohibit any new developments to reach MBTA Communities Act compliance elsewhere in the city? Housing costs in the commonwealth are very high, and we need to build more housing to relieve the pressure.

4. But I also think that this is the type of scrutiny that so often gets applied to multifamily housing only, and not to new single family developments. Multifamily housing typically requires a lot less infrastructure/future maintenance costs per household for the city than the equivalent single family housing development.

5. A development here would be walking distance to an elementary school (and playground), library, restaurants, and other shopping. It's one of the few areas in north Framingham where that's possible. It's good to develop near amenities where people can easily/comfortably walk.

6. I grew up in NW Framingham in a neighborhood that was all large lot single family houses. My elementary school was full of kids from similar neighborhoods. It was in middle school when I met and became friends with kids who lived in apartment buildings. I think it would be great if there were more options for housing type/size in Framingham in general, and also not just clustered along route 9 or in downtown.

7. Finally, addressing a point from the prior post on this: I agree that it seems a little out of the way from the commuter rail station that is the basis for Framingham's MBTA Communities inclusion. I would point out that your idea for the Staples property is also not really transit accessible (yes it's by the highway, but as far as I'm aware there is no MBTA on the Mass Pike). Developing there might attract more people who commute to Boston by car rather than transit. Both locations are served by MWRTA though.

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1. $9,500 covers just the local contribution. Another $9,500 is needed to cover the full freight for a student of $19,000. In truth, Chapter 70 will not contribute much as these new students are neither low income nor ESL students. So there is another 390 * $9,500 = $3.7 million needed. That means a big loss for the city.

2. We will have no control over the # BR/unit. If I were the developer, I would go for all 3BR units as the incremental construction cost is relatively small, the profit is bigger and that is where the demand is.

3. I agree we need to build more housing. All the other MODs beyond Nobscot are fine with me.

5. The school is slated to move to the southside. Plus there is no food market. Nor a decent restaurant.

7. 9/90 puts most of the 'local' traffic onto 9 and 90, e.g. commuting, food shopping. Plus there is a great park and ride terminal right on Rt 9 at Staples which could be developed.

Thanks for your comments.

Geoff

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