A $200 rent hike prices out family in Lynn, Massachusetts
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- Опубліковано 10 сер 2022
- Olga Valiente left Guatemala after a gang threatened to kidnap her children. She’s lived in Lynn, Massachusetts for nine years - and in a modest apartment just off Lynn Common for three. The location is ideal, near her church, the kids’ schools and their grocery store. What’s more, they’ve been able to pay for it - until now.
This spring, Olga’s landlord told her the rent was increasing from $1900 to $2100 a month. That’s still below the current median for a Lynn three bedroom. But Olga says for her family - it’s just not doable long term.
“We can barely make it to $1900,” she said. “Imagine when I have to pay all that increase.”
Valiente’s landlord, Rosa Martinez, told GBH News that she, too, is an immigrant, and that she tries to keep the units she and her husband own affordable for tenants like Valiente, who she calls “my people.”
But Martinez also said that given the realities of the real-estate market, there are limits to how accommodating she can afford to be.
“I can’t rent that apartment for $1800 or $1900,” said Martinez, who owns 28 units in the area. “It’s impossible. The money has to come from somewhere to pay those mortgages. … Rent is so expensive because property is so expensive.”
The value of a single-family home in Lynn increased 157% between 2011 and 2021, according to Warren Group data provided to GBH News. Immigrant-rich communities across the state have seen similar home value increases - including Everett, Revere, Brockton and Lawrence.
Valiente’s predicament is a reminder that - for the most economically vulnerable Massachusetts residents - even small increases in the cost of living can be catastrophic, no matter how reasonable their bottom line might look from the outside.
Her situation also casts doubt on the notion that production alone can solve the housing crisis in Massachusetts. A multitude of new housing developments are currently sprouting up in and around Lynn’s urban core, but they tend to feature smaller, more expensive units that seem to exist in a different universe than the one Valiente and her family occupy.
Case in point: the Caldwell, which towers over the Salvation Army thrift store downtown. It boasts a fitness center, a game room, a Skydeck with a pool, coworking space, and a pet spa - but no three-bedroom apartments. The Caldwell’s two-bedrooms units start at about $3,000.
The socioeconomic texture of Lynn development may be changing in the near future.
Later this year, Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson plans to unveil a proposed requirement that developers building in the city create new affordable housing, either on site or elsewhere, including units that are within reach of Lynn’s poorest residents.
“It’s certainly a top priority,” Nicholson said. “And it’s one of the most pressing issues in the city.”
But Nicholson’s plan comes with a caveat. It’s crucial, he says, that the new policy not be so demanding that developers currently interested in Lynn simply decide to go elsewhere.
“You want to strike the right balance,” he said, “where you’re doing right by the residents who are struggling with affordable housing, doing right by the community - but also allowing investors to make a return.”
Perhaps, in a few years, Olga Valiente and her children will benefit from whatever steps the city takes next to keep Lynn affordable for people like them.
For now, though, Valiente is pessimistic about the future - and at a genuine loss about where she’ll go if she can’t remain in her current home.
“On the mountains, or under the bridge - I had a conversation with my children, and that’s where we always say we’re going to end up,”
Competition for housing has driven up home prices to record levels across Massachusetts. Some of the biggest gains have happened in communities where residents can least afford to pay more.
GBH news is exploring the impact in the series Priced Out: The fight for housing in Massachusetts: www.wgbh.org/news/pricedout
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![[4K] Downtown Lynn MA Sunset Ride Central Square to Lynn Common](/img/n.gif)
My heart goes out to this mother. All she wanted to do was to protect her children. Honestly as a teacher $200 would be too much for me as well.
I still don't know why people just don't go back on rent control years ago and the 1980s everything was much easier with rent control
I’m a landlord, and I don’t agree with rent control. I have a tenant who bugs me second asking new fancy things in the apartment. Like new washer and dryer, stove, dishwasher. The paint doesn’t match, the doors don’t smoothly, ect… and whatever he ask, I always give it to him. Little does he know, when it comes time to renew his lease, the rent will be going up tremendously.
It's called greed and if they can't pay it someone will.
if someone owns their property they have every right to charge what they want , its theirs . Other people dont owe you anything.
YOUNG PEOPLE, BUY A HOME. TRY YOUR BEST TO FIND WHERE YOU WANT TO LIVE - PRAY ABOUT IT THEN SAVE, SELL, SCRIMP, WORK 2 JOBS BEG FROM DAD BUT BUT A HOME. NOT A TRAILER IF YOU CAN'T MAKE A HOME THEN BUT THE TRAILER BUT KEEP A HOME PURCHASE GOAL IN MIND EVERYDAY. MAKE IT YOUR OBSESSION. THEN PAY EXTRA TO THE PRINCIPAL EVERY MONTH!
1900$ alone is insane
I'm 62 from Lynn MA Husband was hired at the GE We had A 2 bedroom We paided 450 a month it's so insane now
We need rent control back
only if you're going to control all landlord expenses. Otherwise a big no.
It is not reasonable for the politicians that cause inflation to “price control” one section of the economy. Does the landlord still have to absorb rising costs for plumbing, electrical, roofing, materials and labor. …. Who funds the annual increases in property taxes, fuel, utilities, pest control, snow removal etc etc? The ever more inefficient state winds up taking over private ownership of residential housing which is usually a disaster on multiple levels.
Maybe the older boy can find a part-time job after school...don't become homeless.
I’m in Lynn long long time,
All these housing videos only show immigrants. What about homeless people on the streets? Such bias.
It's too bad most new rentals are built by investors these days. Few mom and pop owners to rent from. Investors are always beholden to stakeholders who have no concern for real people and renters.
Do Lawrence!!
Lawrence is just as expensive.
Omg I now them u lived there
I lived there
I lived there they were my friends
Keep Itemizing Loud Lousy… landlords
So, a 10% increase after years of moratoriums, anti landlord laws, no rent increases for at least two years, and sounds like much longer in this case, harder evictions and oh yes, inflation. Doesn't seem an overly big increase.
Do we not have English classes for new immigrants to learn the language? Nine years and still can't speak English? How does she ever expect to get a better paying job to cover the expense of rent without knowing the English language?
Yaa I am not English speaker by birth but living in environment where all PPL speak English helped me to learn it quickly 😅
You missed the point of the video
Welcome to America and and look around at what others are paying, should be more grateful your getting a $200 increase that’s nothing compared to the rest, work it out, there is not a lot a sympathy for your family at this time especially with the immigration problems we have at this time 😮 okay figure I out consider the alternative
I know plenty of Americans who have moved to Mexico for affordable living. I'm sure if this woman moves south of the border, she and her family will be fine. So, I'm not sure what the problem is or even why these people are complaining.
did you listen to the video or understand the problem?
Retired Americans move to Mexico because they can easily afford the cost of living expenses with their monthly pensions. The money exchange works in their favor, even if they get the standard social security check of $1,500. However, the story is completely the opposite in the US, where you’ll be homeless with this amount.