Last Monday, Felix Arroyo was sworn in by Mayor Thomas Menino as Boston’s newest city councilor, making history in the process. He is the first councilor of Latino origin to be elected to the 13-member body. As the fifth-place finisher in the 2001 race for one of four at-large city-council seats, Arroyo, 54, succeeded Councilor Mickey Roache following Roache’s resignation to become Suffolk County register of deeds. Arroyo, who was the director of advocacy and leadership development for the Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation (HOPE) in Jamaica Plain before taking his seat on the council, lives with his wife, Elsa, and two of his five grown children in the Stony Brook section of Hyde Park. He moved to Boston from his native Puerto Rico in 1976 to pursue an extended postgraduate degree in education from Harvard University; in his adopted city, he held several posts in both government and academia before serving on the School Committee from 1992 through 1999. A long-time activist in communities of color, Arroyo says he decided to run for the city council after discovering he enjoyed activism more than working as an educator. The Phoenix spoke with the new councilor last week at his office outside the Boston City Council chambers.

Q: Why has it taken so long for a Latino to be elected to the Boston City Council?

A: Though increasing rapidly, Latinos still constitute only 15 percent of Boston’s population, and we are dispersed across the city, not concentrated in a council district or specific area of the city. But more than that, there is a history in Boston of having to pay your dues before you can be elected to office, especially if you are not from one of the traditionally dominant ethnic groups. It was only after years of activism and public service that I was able to win the voters’ trust that I could do the job. Also, it is a time in Boston when voters are more open to seeing people who are different elected to public office.

Q: You have nine months until the next election to show the voters what you can do. What will be your number-one priority during that time period?

A: If I could accomplish only one thing in my time here, it would be to help people who have lived in this city a long time afford to stay here, and perhaps even buy a home of their own. The city’s housing crisis is out of control. Homelessness is increasing rapidly because many families who rent can no longer afford to live in the apartment they have lived in for years. These are people who have worked hard and given their lives to the city. We have to do whatever we need to do to help them stay — [such as] give them a priority on affordable housing, low-interest loans, no down payments. There are a lot of little things we can do to sweeten the pot for them.

Q: What about rent control, or at least the rent-stabilization plan offered by the mayor (and rejected by the council) last fall?

A: I support the mayor’s rent-stabilization plan, but it is just one facet of what needs to be done to maximize the amount of affordable housing being built in the city. I am hoping he will resubmit it as part of a comprehensive housing policy — one that not only helps renters but [also] homeowners and those who own two- and three-family homes. I want a policy that allows property owners a reasonable profit, but not one so high that it displaces families.

Q: You agree with the mayor on that issue, but you and the mayor have often disagreed in the past, especially around education issues such as MCAS and neighborhood schools. Can you get along with him?

A: I have differed with the mayor in the past, and I am sure we will differ in the future. But he was elected to serve his constituents and I was elected to serve mine, and therefore we will have to work together on common agendas. That doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything, even though I think we will find commonality on many issues. There is no intent on my part to purposely disagree, but when we do, I will be the first to say so. That being said, the mayor was extremely gracious to me during the swearing-in ceremony. In his comments, the mayor said the city’s " first Italian-American mayor " was proud to swear in his Hyde Park neighbor as the " first Puerto Rican " elected to the Boston City Council.