Nearly 100 people are expected to take to the streets Saturday to raise awareness about Boston’s critical shortage of affordable housing, and to learn about the issue from activists in the trenches. The Walk for Housing, sponsored by the Boston University Youth Alliance for Housing (BUYAH) and the grassroots community group Boston Mobilization, will lead marchers on a four-mile tour of Boston’s neighborhoods, beginning at Boston Common and moving from the State House through Chinatown, Back Bay, the South End, Mission Hill, and the Fenway.

The group will stop at development hot spots — including Millennium Place, Fenway Park, and Boston University’s planned luxury hotel on Comm Ave — for politics and history talks by experienced housing activists such as Boston city councilor Chuck Turner, Steve Meacham of City Life/Vida Urbana, and members of the Fenway Community Development Corporation. “The goal of having people speak along the route is we become educated as we walk,” says BU junior Katy Ziegenfuss, a march organizer. “For some people, this is their first time doing something about the affordable-housing crisis. They might be aware that rents are really high, but it’s important to recognize the work that’s going on in Boston. There are a lot of people doing wonderful things, and we can learn from them.”

The march — which will pass through the Northeastern campus and conclude at BU’s Warren Towers dormitory — will highlight students’ and universities’ role in citywide housing issues. At BU, says recent grad and march organizer Roni Krouzman, “students end up paying about $600 per month minimum” for shared and often cramped dorm rooms. “Students who live on campus with stringent rules about who they can bring into their room end up paying a lot more than students who live off campus,” he says. “That’s part of the problem with the housing crisis in Allston-Brighton. Often dorms are so overpriced or of such poor quality that students don’t even want to live in them.” The marchers will urge BU to abandon plans for Hotel Commonwealth in favor of building affordable housing or student residences.

Krouzman realizes the walk must compete for activist bodies with the anti-globalization protests this weekend in Canada (not to mention a march in Washington, DC, to protect reproductive rights; see “How Safe Is Choice?”, page 1). He says he supports the effort in Canada. “But we’re trying to convey that you don’t have to go all the way to Quebec to confront corporate injustice,” he says. With the handsome profits developers and universities have gleaned thanks to sky-high housing costs, “there’s plenty right here in Boston.”

The Walk for Housing begins at noon this Saturday, April 21, at Boston Common Pavilion (near Tremont Street, and between the Park Street and Boylston Street T stops). There will be a rally featuring City Councilor Chuck Turner at the future site of Hotel Commonwealth (in front of the Kenmore Square T stop) at 3 p.m., and the walk will conclude at 3:45 p.m. at BU’s Warren Towers. Participants will celebrate starting at 4 p.m. at Espresso Royale Caffè, 736 Comm Ave. Marchers are encouraged to make a sliding-scale donation to Boston Mobilization, which can be reached at (617) 782-2313.

Issue Date: April 19 - 26, 2001