Salem Housing Proposals Fall Short Again

SALEM, MA — If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result, Salem city councilors must be feeling pretty crazy these days.

An ordinance that would have required all housing projects with six or more units to include affordable housing units failed to get the required two-thirds super majority needed to pass Thursday. The 7-4 vote was the same tally the measure got when it went before council on June 25, and the same tally in all the recent proposals from mayor Kim Driscoll aimed at increasing affordable housing in Salem.

"In an alternate version of our council meeting last night we COULD have passed the MOST progressive inclusionary zoning ordinance in Massachusetts," At-Large Councilor Ty Hapworth said in a Facebook post reacting to the vote Friday morning. "We COULD have mandated that nearly ALL new construction include much deeper levels of affordability. We COULD have given hope to so many of our neighbors who are struggling to find and keep an affordable roof over their heads."

Hapworth said that proposal is now "dead" and called on the four councilors who voted against it to come up with a proposal "that will be more impactful than the options they voted against last night.

"When 4 councilors purposefully dismiss a half dozen plausible and impactful options, and then put forward unrealistic solutions not based in fact or approved by experts, we have an inability to legislate and function as a local government," he said.

The four no votes — At-Large Councilors Domingo Dominguez and Arthur Sargent, along with Ward 4 Councilor Tim Flynn, Ward 7 Councilor Steve Dibble — have consistently opposed initiatives aimed at creating affordable housing in Salem. So much so that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker used the four councilors as an example of why he has long supported eliminating the state's super majority requirement for local housing ordinances.

Driscoll "inevitably gets a 7-4 vote. I think a 7-4 vote should be enough to move a housing project forward, and I think most people agree with that," Baker said at a news conference last month. "In many cases, a small groups of people will get to say no to projects a majority of people in the community, and a majority of their representatives, support."

In a Friday morning Facebook post to constituents, Ward 5 Councilor Josh Turiel conceded he and the six councilors who support the affordable housing proposals will continue to fail under the current requirements and with the current makeup of city council. He noted that in the past three years, the only housing initiative to pass council was an ordinance to convert a handful of vacant, nonconforming buildings into housing.

"Like it or not, we have a consistent bloc of four Councillors that will not allow anything to pass. They all have talked about wanting more affordable housing - which is great - but when it comes time to vote the answer is always a 'no'," Turiel said. "Simply put, we will not see any improvements in our housing climate here in Salem until either the state eliminates the supermajority or the city's electorate decides that this status quo is unacceptable."

Dave Copeland covers Salem and other North Shore communities for Patch. He can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).