CCA's Bonita Grubbs has an interesting piece about rent and housing in today's Register. Yale, for one, would do well to listen to her admonition that

Fifth, at the federal level, Congress has authorized cuts in the Section 8 program, which furnishes rent subsidies for 2 million of the country’s most vulnerable families. This change has caused one financial institution to scrap an innovative home mortgage program aimed at promoting home ownership through Section 8. And, the bond market has lost faith in Section 8-related programs.



Sixth and finally, the amount of emphasis on homeownership has increased and affordability has, in some cases, become synonymous with being a first-time homebuyer. As a condominium owner, I am aware of the multiple benefits of homeownership. I just know that not everyone wants to or is able to purchase and maintain a house or condominium.



There should be a variety of housing options, not just those that favor homeownership.

Grubbs identifies gentrification as a key problem and suggests some solutions to the city's housing crisis:

Reducing rents for people who are poor is a good start; some individuals have even started talking about rent control.



Establishing a policy of one-to-one replacement housing that is rental housing is another idea.



Increasing or shifting funding so that a wider variety of housing options can be available to New Haven residents is also worth exploring.



Producing units that are rental and affordable is the most important strategy, though. Then, as one person who testified at this month’s aldermanic hearing said, those who are poor will no longer feel as if they are being chased out of New Haven.

Back in the '70s, New Haven faced a similar housing crisis. Community activists made explicit connectios between Yale's removal of property from the tax rolls and demolition of residential and apartment buildings in its development schemes and the dearth of affordable housing. With the victory of the extension of the homebuyer program to Fair Haven and West Rock, this sounds like a clarion call for New Haven activists to revisit and rethink not only the city's policies towards housing, (Grubbs argues that the city puts too much emphasis on home ownership and not enough on affordable rents. Her evidence is anecdotal but plausible.) but also the ways in which Yale's presence and its actions in the communityhave made rents rise beyond affordability. In 1973 (i think) the Yale Faculty voted to encourage the university to replace every housing unit lost through its expansion. That would be a start.