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Solving the housing crisis

by Ben Geman

MENINO wants to beef up the housing staff.

Mayor Thomas Menino knows this for sure: he wants his administration to help Boston solve the problem of rising housing costs. What's less certain is how many people are needed to do the job.

Case in point: three months after the departure of Pat Canavan, Menino's housing-policy adviser, the administration says a replacement will indeed be hired.

Finding someone new is sure to take a while -- Menino is notorious for the time he takes to fill positions. But it's mildly surprising that Menino plans to replace Canavan at all. Some thought the post might stay vacant in light of Menino's hiring of former Dorchester state representative Charlotte Golar Richie for the newly created cabinet position of housing chief. (Richie will also head the city's Department of Neighborhood Development.)

"They never indicated the position would be filled," says City Councilor Maura Hennigan, chair of the council's housing committee, upon hearing that Menino plans to replace Canavan. "I had kind of assumed she would not be replaced and that Charlotte would assume her role, but obviously that's not the case."

They never indicated it, apparently, because they didn't know themselves. One Menino aide says city officials weren't sure whether they'd replace Canavan but realized the issue of housing was diffuse enough to necessitate more policy staff. "It's not a reflection on Charlotte, it's a reflection of the issue," says the aide.

City officials may also do more than just replace Canavan, says the aide, adding that the administration may hire more housing staff at the troubled Boston Redevelopment Authority. "We don't have a specific plan. I think at this point it's a general `let's see who's out there and who might fit in,' " he says.

Though there's potential for overlap between Richie's post and the housing-policy-adviser slot, Menino may need all the help he can get. Since identifying housing as a top priority and pledging more resources last winter -- when he announced Golar Richie's hiring -- his administration has struggled to craft a clear policy to address the city's skyrocketing housing costs.