Group To Host Forum On Affordable Housing In The Age Of COVID-19

Press release from the Office of Building a Better Brookline:

May 22 2020

“Building a Better Brookline” (https://www.buildingabetterbrookline.org/), a town-wide coalition of organizations concerned about housing affordability in Brookline, holds its First Forum, "Housing Affordability in the Age of COVID19: Changing the Conversation," on Zoom on Sunday, June 14 from 1 to 3:00 pm.

Organized by an innovative partnership of three Brookline boards and commissions - the Housing Advisory Board, Commission for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations, and Economic Development Advisory Board – the alliance came together to overcome barriers to housing affordability. Joining forces with dozens of other Brookline organizations and individuals, they are working together to achieve their goals more effectively than working separately.

This first of three Forums, moderated by Frank Steinfield, CEO, Brookline Community Foundation, will discuss how diversity and inclusion, transportation, economic development, and climate sustainability all impact housing affordability. Bob Van Meter, Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action, will speak on “Confronting the History of Housing Discrimination”.
The panel, moderated by Rashmi Dyal-Chand, law professor at Northeastern School of Law, includes Deborah Brown, Chris Dempsey, Alden Raines, Werner Lohe, and Jenny Raitt. A discussion of Brookline’s current housing crisis will examine what it means for residents and those who cannot afford to live here, how previous conscious policy decisions caused this crisis, how housing impacts health, and how together, we can increase the supply of housing at the low and middle-income levels.

Co-sponsored by BrooklineCAN, the forums are free and welcome everyone. For additional information please contact Joan Lancourt, jlancourt@comcast.net or Jonathan Klein, jklein728@gmail.com. Register at “Building a Better Brookline” (https://www.buildingabetterbrookline.org/).

This press release was produced by the Office of Building a Better Brookline. The views expressed here are the author’s own.