An 8-year plan? These Worcester residents say they need housing help now

Erica Nicole is thinking about moving out of Worcester.

In 2023, Nicole’s four-bedroom, two-bathroom house burned down in a fire. She along with her two dogs and three cats at the time tried to find a new home but couldn’t find any that would accept pets.

She then found housing in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood but felt the area was not safe for her or her animals. With limited housing options combined with a frustration towards some of the city’s landlords, Nicole isn’t sure about staying in the city anymore.

“The housing market is just unbelievable,” she said.

Nicole is one among thousands of Worcester residents feeling the squeeze of a housing shortage. The city released a housing production plan in the spring that showed rents and home prices increasing because of high demand mixed with low supply, according to an analysis by RKG associates. To meet demand, Worcester will need to develop 12,000 housing units by 2033.

Inside the plan are action steps the city plans to take to help increase affordable housing production and expedite approvals for modern housing.

But Nicole and other Worcester residents are skeptical of the plan’s effectiveness and believe the city should do more to help those currently renting or owning homes in Worcester.

“Some of the people who are trying to find decent housing are people who are coming from out of the city,” Nicole said. “But for the people who are already established here and either have had situations where they’ve lost their homes due to an emergency like myself or their landlord goes and sells the property out from under them… there’s no resources to get new housing.”

Meanwhile, city officials and housing advocates expressed confidence in the housing plan and believe the 12,000-unit goal is achievable.

“It’s not just something that, you know, looks great,” Peter Dunn, the city’s chief development officer, said in a previous interview with MassLive. “We’re intending to hold ourselves accountable on a number of those strategies, certainly those that are within our control.”

For Nicole, she wants the city to provide better information about landlords. She said the city does not have any resources about landlords so that people can look up their backgrounds, a frustration she had when she was looking for housing after the fire.

“There’s no way of tracking landlords who are good,” she said. “It needs to be a wraparound situation where it’s not just make more housing, but make the housing worthy of people living in.”

Matthew Moore, a spokesperson for City Manager Eric D. Batista, said the city’s rental registry intends to list the contact information of property owners and property managers in the future.

The city deferred any additional comment to Dunn’s previous interview with MassLive.

Finding housing that is affordable

Matt Caranci, another Worcester resident, says the problem isn’t a lack of housing in general but rather a lack of affordable housing.

Affordable housing is defined as housing where someone does not pay more than 30% of gross income for housing costs, including utilities, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Born with a disability, Caranci has lived in his apartment for 21 years, paying $1,200 a month for rent. Last year, his building was sold and his rent increased to $1,800 and is set to rise again to $2,000 in December, he said.

In Worcester, the average rent for all bedrooms and all property types is $2,100, as of November, according to Zillow.com.

Receiving income via Social Security and using the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, Caranci has tried to find housing that is affordable in his price range but has been unsuccessful.

“I am trying really hard to stay in the same area best as possible to continue taking care of my daughter,” Caranci said. “I’ve been trying to find a one-bedroom around the area, or close as possible, but it’s been pretty difficult.”

The city’s housing production plan does feature a strategy to adopt city-wide zoning that gives density bonuses and streamline permitting for developers building 100% affordable housing.

Density bonuses allow developers to add height or density to their project in return for providing community benefits, such as affordable housing, according to the production plan.

The plan also promotes the prioritizing of building affordable housing on surpluses of municipal land.

For Caranci, there needs to be a focus on creating housing that is affordable to those who have lower incomes.

“I definitely don’t think there’s a lack of buildings and units, more so lack of affordable housing and getting into the places requires jumping through hoops,” Caranci said. “My income will never cover $2,000 a month in addition to utilities and other housing living expenses.”

Calls for rent control

While the city’s housing plan does seek to create more affordable housing units through the use of density bonuses, Caranci is looking for something more direct and urgent — rent control.

He believes it isn’t fair that residents have difficulties paying increasing rent when their incomes have not increased.

Marjorie Bolduc, another Worcester resident, also supports rent control.

A proposed ballot question for the 2026 general election would repeal a state-wide ban on local rent control laws. It would also set a limit on annual rent increases of 5% or the rate of inflation, depending upon which is lower, according to the ballot question.

Bolduc, asked if she supported the ballot measure, said, “If it protects citizens from going potentially homeless because of pricing, absolutely.”

The housing production plan does not mention or recommend rent control.

Alana Gordon, a former Worcester resident that now lives in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, also supports rent control but said the city’s plan should be implemented too.

“We need both,” she said. “People need urgency as things are bad and have been bad for a while. They’ve taken too long to do anything.”