Anwar Faisal of Alpha Mgmt just bought 100 units in Somerville

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Controversial landlord expands empire into Somerville... Renters beware.

http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/news/20160216/landlord-blasted-in-spotlight-series-buys-100-units-in-city

Comments

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Agreed entirely: There's a difference between unethical and ethical businesses.

The conflict between liberal politics and unaffordable housing is one that's gotten a lot of coverage recently:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/why-are-liberal-cities-so-unaffordable/382045/

I don't know what the equivalent organization in Somerville is, but A Better Cambridge (http://www.abettercambridge.org/) is working to address that. (Not to be confused with the anti-growth group Cambridge Residents Alliance).

[davisdenizen.livejournal.com]

Interesting article -- thanks for the link! I think another scary aspect is that often towns are talking about "affordable housing" for those in the lowest income tier; this article is addressing the crisis for those who make what used to be good salaries, but now lag far behind rental rates, especially because of the concomitant stagnation of salary raises.

I had noted the Cambridge organization and that was one of the reasons I was so puzzled that there was nothing equivalent in Somerville.

I appreciate the discussion -- let's hope there will be more of it, here and elsewhere. It's needed!

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

The conflict between liberal politics and unaffordable housing is one that's gotten a lot of coverage recently:

That doesn't surprise me -- well-educated professional workers are a Democratic-leaning class and can afford to live in an expensive city. And an expensive city drives out more working-class people, who tend to vote Republican these days.