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Issue of June 20, 2005 |     |
Upward MobilityWhen rent control was abolished in Massachusetts more than 10 years ago, one little-known exception was made for mobile-home owners. Now landlords and some lawmakers are pushing for rent control to be lifted from mobile homes as well.v Spirit of Massachusetts There are but a few segments of the industries we report on that are not undergoing challenges of some magnitude. Communities lack affordable housing while residential builders are weighed down by acres of paperwork and scads of delays. Office building owners continue to stare through their buildings looking for tenants who do not exist. Landlords are dropping apartment rents. Real estate professionals combat the notion of a housing bubble while secretly fearing one is on the horizon. Mortgage lenders scramble to fill pipelines that were once overflowing with refinance applications. And bankers worry as changing interest rates impact their ability to derive a reasonable rate of return. Extra Credit According to Massachusetts Education Commissioner David Driscoll, Bay State high school students may be becoming more proficient at passing MCAS requirements, but along with their peers throughout the country, they are failing financial literacy tests badly. Since 1997, the Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has been measuring the financial knowledge of high school seniors across America each year. The test results are poor and they are not improving. In 2004, the average high school student earned a failing grade of 52 percent. Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program Presents Many Opportunities By Kathy Brown and David Harris This month the Romney administration and the Legislature face hard choices as they debate the fiscal year 2006 budget. The dire fiscal situation the commonwealth experienced during the first half of this decade left programs that serve low-income tenants like the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) underfunded, despite recently improved tax receipts. But if Gov. Romney and the Legislature think their task a challenge, they should put themselves in the shoes of a program participant. Take Robin. Robin has been trying to stay in the Dorchester neighborhood so that her 17-year-old daughter can attend Boston Latin School and increase her chances for a college education. Despite working a steady retail job and putting in frequent overtime, staying has meant committing an astonishing 72 percent of her income to rent a standard two-bedroom apartment. “When people hear that, their mouths fall open,” she says, smiling. “Mine does too.” Check & Balance Banker & Tradesman's political cartoon. |
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