Green Line Extension Raising Concerns Over Higher Rents In Somerville
SOMERVILLE (CBS) - In the three-bedroom apartment she shares with her mom and son on Walnut Street, Vanessa Vela worries. "They sell the idea that it was going to be to the benefit of the working class," Vela said.
She's talking about the nearby Green Line station that opened Monday in Somerville's Union Square, where rents have been climbing since the planning stage, only to rapidly accelerate in the last year or so.
"They have been selling all of the buildings around and raising the rents," Vela said.
Vela still has a deal with her old landlord, but the new owner has threatened to evict her and is now asking more than $3,000 a month for similar units in her building, way more than the vet tech can afford.
"Well the rich keep getting rich," she said.
The flurry of new apartments going up nearby shows that investors believe they've found a gold mine on the Green Line, even as some first day riders celebrated.
The sad irony here, say some community leaders, is that while quick access to public transportation is a blessing for working class folks, they'll also be the first ones forced out by rising rents around Union Square.
Research found the half-mile radius around a new rail line sees new developments and more housing, but also higher rent.
"That's the injustice that we are trying to address," said activist Nicole Eigbrett, who has been helping residents like Vanessa Vela fight back against the soaring rents of gentrification.
"It's the working class, immigrant and lower income residents of Somerville who are being pushed out of the city first," Eigbrett said.
She's asking the city, state and even the feds to step in with protections for people like Vanessa Vela. Two-thirds of Somerville's 81,000 residents rent their homes.
"You honestly don't think about it, or don't think about fighting these demons until it happens to you," Vela said.
Adding to the fear is that the city's COVID moratorium on evictions expires at the end of next month.
Union Square station in Somerville and a brand new Lechmere station in Cambridge both opened on Monday morning.
They're two of seven new stations in the $2.3 billion Green Line Extension project that began back in 2018. It will add more than four-and-a-half miles of track north of Boston that will extend all the way to College Avenue in Medford.
