Reports

February 13, 2025

Oct 12, 2024 headline in the Fall River Herald News: “Fall River has 113 new affordable units coming. Where are they and how to get one.”

In October 2024 the Mass. Law Reform Institute (MLRI) published a report, Fall River Needs a Balanced Housing Strategy, followed by an article in Commonwealth-Beacon. The report documents the extreme scarcity and need for low cost rentals in Fall River and the city’s failure to develop affordable housing while prioritizing and supporting the boom in market rate and luxury projects..

There is no sign that the city is considering a meaningful change in direction and almost every week we hear about plans for more high priced developments. Thus, city residents, especially renters, were undoubtedly excited to read in this Herald News article that “the Community Development Agency (CDA) has committed to 11 affordable housing projects in various stages of development scattered throughout the city.” The story seemed to say that 113 affordable units might be available soon. But information provided by CDA tells a less optimistic story as documented in this article: Only 68 to 70 affordable units, not 113, might be created over the next three years – most in 2026 and 2027— and few of these will be affordable to extremely low or very low-income households. 

Even if all 113 units were up and running in the next three years, it would still be a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed and would pale in comparison to the market rate boom that the city has supported and prioritized over affordable housing. Advocates have urged Fall River to re-balance its approach and support creation of  both market rate and deeply affordable housing opportunities so that all residents will benefit from the city’s renewal  – and look forward to many more than 113 affordable units.

Judith Liben, author of this article, is a senior housing attorney and Access to Justice Fellow at the Mass. Law Reform Institute