Changes in The ‘Ville: Can Somerville Stay Cool AND Affordable?

My taste in music is far too terrible for me to be a proper hipster, but I know that I’m part of a demographic that long-time ‘Villens have been keeping an eye on. I’m young, I spend money on craft beers and artisan goods, and I’m new enough to The Ville that I had to Google the Winter Hill Gang when I first heard the phrase.

I took SCC’s Gentrification & Displacement class because I wanted to learn about this city that’s been such a good home to me over the last year and a half and because I wanted to better understand my role in the forces at work in Somerville.  

Gentrification, at its core, is about the churn of different demographics of people. As a community gains notoriety for being a good place to live, outsiders move in and settle down. As the reputation continues to improve, higher income earners move in, stores begin to reflect the wealthier clientele, housing demand exceeds supply, and soon the original locals, who probably did the work to make the area as attractive as it is, are forced elsewhere. As one class member eloquently put it, “communities are turned into profit-making machines.”

As Somerville has become more “cool,” prices for people who live here—and who have lived here, perhaps for decades—have increased in tandem. What I learned at SCCs class was that nearly 40% of Somerville residents are not living in housing that is affordable to them. That means that 2/5 of all ‘Villens pay more than 1/3 of their incomes on housing costs.  

At numbers as staggering at that, it’s clear that this is a problem that affects everyone—not just those in the smaller income brackets. Of course, for those who are low income earners, the reality is even more daunting: of the already limited stock that would be financially viable for low income families, most of the waiting lists have been closed since 2001.

I already knew that I had been immeasurably lucky to have the contacts, job security, and citizenship documents I needed to find housing I could afford in Somerville before I saw these numbers. But the class reminded me that I have no reason to think my luck is going to last: you see, my neighborhood is set to become a public transit heaven by 2018. Nestled in between the future Lowell St. and Ball Square Green Line stops, my area is slated for a renaissance, similar to what happened in Davis Square after the Red Line came through in 1984.

The prospect of not needing to wait for a bus in the winter is an exciting one, but the data we explored in class points to an impending danger. While my neighborhood is now on par with Somerville as a whole in terms of socioeconomic and racial diversity, a quick glance at the trends in Davis Square show what to expect when the GLX arrives: the area I call home will become whiter, richer, and less diverse. The reasons I moved here—the diversity, the families, the affordability—will likely dissipate. 

I don’t know how to enable Somerville to benefit from the amazing development that has been happening without displacing people—unfortunately, SCC’s class didn’t have all the answers. What I do know is that everyone wants to be part of a community, not a cog in a profit-making machine. Hopefully Somerville as a whole—both newcomers and proper ‘Villens alike—will find a way to stay connected and true to itself as these big changes come to town.