Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,356 chars

• Arlington was predominately classified as blue or “still desirable,” with yellow “declining” areas clustered
along its borders with Somerville, Medford, and Lexington and along Massachusetts Avenue. These
yellow areas—which notably overlap with much of the area where multifamily housing is allowed
today—would have had fewer resources directed to them than the blue and green areas north and south
of Massachusetts Avenue.
• Regional segregation was further embedded through “racially restrictive covenants,” which were
contractual agreements written into property deeds that prevented homeowners from selling or renting
their home to non-White households.
• Another policy tool that shaped who could and could not live in Arlington was the Town’s Zoning Bylaw.
o In the 1960s and 1970s, as segregation in greater Boston was challenged and integration
became a real prospect across the region, concerted opposition to development projects began.
o Activists in Arlington used both explicit and coded anti-integration language to rally opposition to
apartment development, support efforts to downzone portions of the town, and to create more
burdensome discretionary permitting process for multifamily housing.
• The legacies of these historical practices are still embedded in Arlington’s laws and residential patterns.
Fair Housing in High-Cost Markets