As we reflect upon our country’s past and hopes for our future over MLK weekend we hope to bring our city together in action. Waltham has a unique opportunity to live up to its promise of an inclusive city and do the right thing and take real action surrounding affordable housing with an exciting project.

The Armory is the brick building at Sharon and Curtis Street in Waltham, which is on the National Register of Historic places but has been unused for decades. Two local housing advocacy organizations, Metro West CD and WATCH CDC, have a well-researched plan to turn it into affordable housing. The building would be restored and turned into apartments that could be rented by households making 60% or less of area median incoming (which would include many people working retail or service jobs in Waltham) with some units reserved for households making 30% or less of area median income.

These organizations have asked the City of Waltham to contribute $5 million from our community preservation funds, and they have a plan to cover the rest from federal, state, and private funds. It’s a good deal for the city, because it addresses one of our community’s most urgent needs-- affordable housing-- while also restoring a historic property that has been a liability for decades. It’s an opportunity to have affordable housing that has a unique aesthetic many can appreciate. It would create apartments in a unique historic building surrounded by private residences, which means less stigma for residents and less concern about property values for neighbors. Waltham Black Future Fund supports this project and we hope you will consider signing the petition below.

Petition · Waltham City Council: Convert Waltham Armory Into Affordable Housing · Change.org

This is a popular project-- over 1,200 people (almost 2% of Waltham) have already signed the petition. However, it still needs to be approved by several committees of the Waltham City Council, and based on what we have seen in meetings so far, it is not clear that will happen. The Community Preservation Committee voted to approve it, but some members voted against. The Long Term Debt Committee has twice voted to table it (put off a decision). In these meetings committee members expressed concerns that the purchase price of the property is too high, or that the overall cost of the project is too high per unit of affordable housing.

In addition to the petition, getting this project approved will likely require supporters showing up when this issue is discussed in meetings that allow for public comment. We’ll plan to post about those on WBFF social media.

The Waltham Armory as depicted in a postcard from about 1910.

Why Housing Hits Home

Imagine walking into a museum and noticing that many of the display cases and exhibit spaces are empty. Then you notice that many valuable items from the museum’s collection are strewn on the floor or other places they don’t belong. Even if you are not an expert on museum management, it would be clear that this museum could be doing a better job of taking care of its collection.

Now imagine driving through a city and noticing lots of empty buildings. Then you notice there are people sleeping in the parks, or other places where they don’t belong. It’s not hard to imagine, and many people in Waltham are wondering if our community could be doing a better job of taking care of its people.

In October, Chaplains on the Way, an organization that directly serves and advocates for Waltham’s unhoused population, estimated that Waltham had about 30 adults staying in homeless shelters and about 20-30 adults sleeping outdoors. These numbers don’t include families who may be living in cars or various forms of temporary housing.

Homelessness has been on the rise in the US, including Massachusetts, since the beginning of the pandemic and economic downturn. Homelessness in turn may contribute to the pandemic because people who are unhoused may be unable to quarantine or even wash their hands. This is a painful reminder that the reality of homelessness cannot be understood when we frame it in terms of personal failure. Homelessness reflects a failure of a community to use its resources effectively and fairly.

Like many forms of economic injustice, homelessness contributes to racial injustice by hitting some groups much harder than others. According to 2018 data from the National Alliance to end Homelessness, in Massachusetts Black people made up about 31% of people experiencing homelessness, compared to 9% of the state’s total population (according to US Census estimates.) Hispanic/Latino people made up 41% of people experiencing homelessness, compared to 12.4% of the state’s total population.

In Waltham many people assume that unhoused people are out-of-towners drawn here by the presence of shelters, but that does not account for the people sleeping outdoors. A 2018 survey by one of Waltham’s homeless shelters found that 51% of people staying there were from Waltham.

Many people assume that homeless people are single adults, but a 2019 report from the US Dept. of Housing & Urban development estimated that of about 18,000 people experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts, the majority (about 12,000) were children or members of families that included children. But the number may in fact be much higher-- during the 2018-2019 academic year, Massachusetts public schools reported serving nearly 25,000 students who were experiencing homelessness. During the pandemic, these students’ access to education may be limited or cut off entirely.

Many people assume that homeless people are unemployed, but in reality many jobs in the Boston area don’t pay enough to cover rent in the Boston area. Working adults and their children can also become homeless due to domestic violence or other health/safety hazards in their prior housing.

This means anyone concerned about racial and economic justice should see housing as one of Waltham’s most urgent priorities, impacting the health, safety, and education of the entire community. So what can we do about it in the short term?

The Armory project could provide homes for people who work in Waltham but cannot afford to live here or nearby, which may include families who are currently homeless despite having an income. It’s an opportunity that we can act on soon, if we don’t allow the city’s approval process to drag out longer than necessary.

The high cost of housing in Waltham and nearby is not just an issue for low-income people-- many white-collar workers, including Waltham’s public school teachers and other city employees, are struggling to afford rent here, but make too much to qualify for affordable units like these. Clearly, we need much more than the Armory project to address the problem. But this is a good opportunity to help some of the people who need it most, and to let our elected representatives know we see affordable housing as an urgent priority.

People outdoors near the Waltham Community Day Center. Photo: Waltham Community Day Center.

The Cost of Inaction

When scrutinizing the cost of the Armory proposal, some of the committee members seemed to compare the cost of the project to the cost of doing nothing, which they may have assumed is zero. But doing nothing with the Armory site is not really an option, for several reasons.

Waltham PD spends a significant amount of time responding to issues involving people who are experiencing homelessness, as well as responding to issues such as vandalism and trespassing at abandoned buildings. In 2017 a Waltham PD officer fell through the floor of the Armory building after pursuing suspects there. Police resources are expensive, and Waltham PD’s overtime budget is over $1M. But town officials tend not to scrutinize the police budget the way they scrutinize proposals such as this one, so that cost of inaction is often ignored.

The Armory is a historic property and the city is not allowed to demolish it. If it is not used for this project, it will either remain a liability, or it will be used for some other purpose that could also be expensive and have unwelcome effects on neighbors.

Like many communities in Massachusetts, Waltham has not yet met its obligation to provide affordable housing under state law. This means that a developer who wants to build affordable housing here can use the state law to bypass the city’s approval process. The Armory project is an opportunity to collaborate with non-profits that have the community’s interests in mind.

If projects like this one cannot be successful in Waltham, the biggest cost may be the missed opportunity to live in a community of people who care about each other. Think about the people who have helped you survive the past year-- the people who hand you your groceries, your coffee, your prescription, or your COVID test results. Don’t these people deserve to live next door to you? We see value in a fair and compassionate community, but that value can easily get forgotten in city meetings, unless we are there to remind them.

Sources:
Petition · Waltham City Council: Convert Waltham Armory Into Affordable Housing · Change.org

2019 MA Fact Sheet - National Alliance to End Homelessness

Basic Facts - MA Coalition for the Homeless

Defining the homeless community in Waltham - News - Wicked Local Waltham - Waltham, MA

US Census Bureau MA 2019 Estimates

Waltham City Council Long Term Debt Committee Meeting 12/28/2020

Waltham City Council Long Term Debt Committee Meeting 12/21/2020