Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, November 3, 2023 Upcoming Movie Night at Malden Public Library oin the library for Movie Night on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, from 6:00-8:00 p.m., when they will be showing the highest-grossing fi lm of 2023, Greta Gerwig’s fi lm “Barbie,” which is based on the Barbie doll. “Barbie suff ers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.” Wear your favorite pink fashion and bring your favorite Barbie or Ken for a fun night. Rated PG-13; 114 minutes; free snacks will be provided. Movie times are approximate. J Movie Night at Malden Public Library CAMPAIGN | FROM PAGE 2 considered a steal right now. Our monthly mortgage is $1,200. My housing reality is a pipe dream for anyone hoping to rent or purchase in Malden now. The only people who can aff ord a new life in Malden are those who have amassed a small fortune to rent or buy here. On Zillow as of October 30, 2023: - The cheapest rental is $1,100 per month for a studio apartment. - The most expensive rental is $5,000 per month. - The cheapest condo for sale is a two-bedroom for $349,900. - The cheapest single family home is an abandoned home on Waitt’s Mount for $399,000 being sold for cash or rehab loan only. - The next single family home immediately jumps to $599,000. It’s time that we start building a Malden for us. We need to refocus on our current residents. We are pricing out our Malden residents - individuals, seniors and families. We are even pricing out those who can aff ord luxury housing but can no longer aff ord rents in the $3,500+ range. I pledge to work with the City Council to explore options for rent control. We need to be more proactive and immediately begin studying how rent control could benefi t our residents and neighborhoods. When people aren’t scraping to pay their rent, they can spend their money elsewhere on restaurants, entertainment, and savings. For context: Rent control has been outlawed in Massachusetts since 1994, but COVID changed everything. Rents, infl ation, and the cost of food and necessities are all way up. There are currently several rent control bills in the State legislature awaiting review, including S.1299/H.2103 “An Act Enabling Cities and Towns to Stabilize Rents and Protect Tenants.” These bills would NOT force towns and cities to enact rent control. It would only open the door to allow them to vote on enacting rent control in their specific city or town through their own city council/town meeting legislative processes. My goal is to exempt small landlords (double and triple deckers and owner occupied buildings) who rent units for income as opposed to profi t. I want to help the small landlords that need it to help them maintain aff ordable rents of their tenants. These eff orts would work towards keeping Malden residents and families in Malden. Just because we were not legally mandated in the past to require aff ordable housing does not mean we should have ignored the need, and that is exactly what happened. We have to face the reality that Malden is no longer aff ordable for people who rent and live here. Our city government needs to begin addressing this now. I will also work with the City Council to review our Inclusionary Zoning law. Currently, it requires new developments to include affordable housing only if the development will be 8 or more units. We need more mixed income developments around our entire city for buildings that have a smaller footprint (under 8 units). I will work with the City Council to amend our zoning laws to make more aff ordable housing in every new development that comes to this city regardless of size. Another proactive option is to expand our Property Acquisitions program through the Aff ordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF). The AHTF was created in 2019, but up until this Fall, the City had not purchased one property using AHTF in the past four years. We can purchase properties and return them to the aff ordable housing pool by selling them to first time and/or low income homebuyers. That’s a win for both the city and our residents. Homes stay taxable, and we keep Malden residents in Malden. Beginning this fall, the current Salvation Army purchase/project is the fi rst aff ordable housing project of the AHTF. This is an excellent example of how we can build aff ordable housing with trusted partners like the Asian Community Development Corporation. I hope to see many more collaborations of this sort in the future. We need to let renters and fi rst time homebuyers know that we support them. We can do that by creating a First Time Homebuyers Education Program which will walk residents through the process of purchasing their fi rst home. Buying a home is a daunting task, and we can build awareness and excitement for buying homes in Malden by educating our residents on the process. We can also support our fi rst time homebuyers by utilizing $1 million from ARPA funding as a pilot program that subsidizes $3,000 in closing costs for over 300+ fi rst-time buyers that agree to live in the property they purchase (owner occupied), and stay in that property for fi ve years. If they forfeit any of these options, they forfeit the down payment assistance and must repay the city. The main focus of my aff ordable housing plan is to work with the City Council towards viable solutions NOW. We can build a Malden for all of us. We have made good progress with increasing our housing stock, but at the cost of pricing out our longtime residents. We should be exploring all proactive options for more aff ordable housing. I want our wonderful residents to stay and invest their lives here. A mixed income and multi-generational residential base is a benefi t to all of us. Let’s work with the City Council to make Malden welcoming for both current residents and new ones. Vote for real change on November 7th!! For more information about Lissette and our campaign for Mayor of Malden, please go to LAforMalden.com.
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