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 ↗

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Service Provider Interviews
Introduction
Throughout the spring of 2020, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) engaged with a variety of
service providers active in Arlington to gain a better understanding of the challenges that protected classes face
when seeking housing in town. While the service providers themselves may not be members of a protected class,
they interact with a range of residents who may be experiencing housing challenges, and are able to offer
broad insight into their clients’ needs.
The findings of these interviews underscore the importance of considering qualitative input alongside quantitative
data in fair housing planning, in order to understand nuances and challenges that may not be apparent through
a quantitative analysis alone. For some protected classes, like households using housing choice vouchers, the data
analysis found that these residents are far less likely to live in Arlington than in the region; these interviews
provide insight into the causes. In other cases, the interviews highlight challenges that are not apparent in the
data. For example, data analysis found that the share of persons with a disability in Arlington mirrors that of the
region overall, indicating that group is likely not segregated at the regional level (see Disability Status on page
22 for more information). However, that does not mean that these residents do not face discrimination or barriers
to accessing the housing that they need; residents with disabilities were one of the most frequently discussed
groups during the interviews.