Housing

It likely comes as little surprise that housing sits near the top of priorities for Boston voters. Earlier this year, a poll revealed the city's housing future was second in importance only to the pandemic. It also showed that 76% of Boston voters supported some form of rent control. Only one candidate — Michelle Wu — wants to bring a broad form of rent control back to Boston. As WBUR's Simón Rios reports, the others "either oppose rent control or only want restrictions on rents for seniors and disabled people." John Barros

Plans to advocate for a Just Cause Eviction law, which would require large landlords to notify the city of evictions in order to generate data and inform tenants of their rights.
Wants to increase density in areas close to public transit, and create more supportive housing for seniors, people with disabilities and homelessness city residents.
Supports taxing absentee owners with blighted or abandoned properties. He says he would lead a “robust study” before implementing this.

Andrea Campbell

Wants to use legislative tools to generate and preserve affordable housing “that is truly affordable for those who live here.”
Plans to use city-owned vacant lots for affordable housing and ownership opportunities.
Wants to prioritize more transit-oriented development in Boston.
Wants a revolving loan fund to finance new affordable housing.

Annissa Essaibi George

Plans to reconvene the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) Task Force to revisit contributions made by nonprofits to generate funds
for affordable housing.
Wants the city to make greater investments in its first time homebuyers program.
Pledges to continue the pace of housing production set by the Walsh administration.

Kim Janey

Promotes more mixed-use development in the city, with greater homeownership opportunities and sustainable buildings.
Wants to ensure that contractors and developers are “inclusive and diverse, employing Boston residents, people of color and women.”
Supports a vacancy tax on buyers who don’t intend to live in their properties, “to offset the impacts of not having that unit occupied” by building more affordable housing.

Michelle Wu

Wants Boston to implement a new form of rent control, the only mayoral candidate with this position.
Proposes planning and zoning changes for greater affordability.
Plans to use Boston’s AAA bond rating to authorize bonds to assist residents with mortgage guarantees, housing vouchers and more affordable units.
Will advocate for a real estate transfer tax on some buyers, as well as a tax on foreign investors.

For more on the candidates and housing, click here.

Policing

As WBUR's Ally Jarmanning reports, the Boston police department is dealing with a slew of embarrassing problems and widespread criticism. And while some Bostonians questions how much impact the next mayor will have on policing in the city, whoever is elected will be allowed to choose the next commissioner and set the department's budget. John Barros

Wants to disclose all sexual assault investigations into Boston officers.
Says he will strengthen use-of-force policies.
Wants to create working groups with Boston neighborhoods to help prevent violence.

Andrea Campbell

Says she will reallocate at least 10% of the Boston police budget, or $50 million to other programs.
Plans to remove police from schools and shift to a restorative justice model.
Wants to expand the use of police body cameras.

Annissa Essaibi George

Says she will divert calls about parking from the police department to the
transportation department.
Wants to release body camera footage within 24 hours of an incident.
Says police officers will undergo annual performance reviews.

Kim Janey

As acting mayor, proposed a budget that would cut overtime by a third.
Wants to expand the police force by 30 officers.
Says she will strengthen existing domestic violence policy.

Michelle Wu

Plans to divert 911 calls for homelessness, substance use or mental health crises to an outreach team.
Says she will eliminate binding arbitration for some offenses.
Wants to establish and enforce a discipline matrix to reduce bias in decisions.

For more on the candidates and policing, click here.

Racial Wealth Gap

All the major Boston mayoral candidates say they have ambitious plans to take on one of the most stubborn issues facing the city: The glaring racial wealth gap. WBUR's Anthony Brooks breaks down the various proposals the candidates have put forth to address racial wealth inequality. John Barros

Wants to create more pathways to higher education and high-paying jobs.
Says he will test a minimum guaranteed income program.
Wants to boost participation of BIPOC investors and contractors in large development projects.
Wants to expand the Tuition-Free Community College plan.

Andrea Campbell

Supports ownership of businesses and property, particularly in communities of color.
Wants to increase access to banking in underserved communities, including Roxbury, Dorchester and East Boston.
Wants to expand the Boston Saves program to help more students pay for higher education and job training.
Says she will create “opportunity accounts” that seed savings for every child at birth.

Annissa Essaibi George

Says she will establish a Justice Task Force to address racial discrimination and other issues.
Wants to ensure fair access to housing, credit and financial services.
Wants to explore direct cash payments from the city for struggling residents.
Supports home ownership and access to capital in underserved communities.

Kim Janey

Invested $2.4 million in Boston Home Center’s first-time homebuyer program.
Supports small businesses owned by women and people of color through temporary lease subsidies.
Plans to provide vocational training.
Wants to bolster requirements for employing residents and people of color in construction projects.

Michelle Wu

Says she will attract and invest in Black businesses.
Wants to implement Boston's Green New Deal, in part to close racial wealth gap.
Would require equitable city contracting.
Wants to promote home ownership and housing justice.

For more on the candidates and addressing the racial wealth gap, click here.

Free Transit

All of the major candidates have expressed support for a robust and functional public transit system in the city. But, as WBUR's Bruce Gellerman reports, there are some differences in their views on what should be done to improve the T or riders' experiences, including whether or not the T should be free for everyone or along certain routes. John Barros

Says certain bus lines should be free for low-income passengers.
Wants to add bus lanes and expand the public transit network.

Andrea Campbell

Says passenger fares are overwhelmingly paid by low-income passengers and people of color, reinforcing racial inequities in income and asset building.
Supports creating neighborhoods where residents live within 15 minutes of day-to-day needs, including groceries, libraries and parks.

Annissa Essaibi George

Wants to invest in public transit.
Supports new programs to reduce the cost of transportation and improve transit options for disadvantaged groups.
Wants to connect essential workers, students and seniors to existing programs offering free or discounted transit fares.

Kim Janey

Calls support for mass transit an economic justice, social justice and racial justice issue.
Promises a free bus along 28 bus route from Mattapan to Roxbury.

Michelle Wu

Supports free mass transit, starting with buses. Considers it a social justice, economic justice and racial justice issue.
Advocates dedicated bus lanes and infrastructure to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

For more on the candidates and free transit, click here.

Boston Schools

All candidates told WBUR's Carrie Jung that they believe admission to the city's prestigious exam schools should involve some type of exam. However, three of the major contenders — Andrea Campbell, Kim Janey and Michelle Wu — each said they also support exam school admissions policies that consider "socioeconomic factors in addition to grades and test scores." Upgrading district buildings was also a high priority for the candidates. Wu, Janey, Barros and Essaibi George support using existing school funding and one-time federal COVID relief funding to finance that. Campbell supports the idea of borrowing money to speed up the process. Wu and Barros also hope to use some of that one-time federal COVID relief funding to expand access to pre-kindergarten to all of Boston's 3- and 4-year-old children. Four of the five leading candidates for mayor have also signaled openness to restoring elections for some or most committee seats. Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu say they would pursue that idea, while Kim Janey and John Barros say they’d consider it. Only Annissa Essaibi George told WBUR she was opposed to adding any elected seats to the body. In any event, a mayor alone couldn’t implement structural changes to the body: it would also need majority support from voters, the city council, and both houses of the state legislature, as well as approval from the governor. John Barros

Believes exam school entrance should require an exam.
Wants to use one-time federal pandemic relief funds to help make pre-kindergarten free for all 3 and 4-year-olds in Boston.
Wants to use additional city funds to meet family needs, like mental health services and food access.
Wants to ensure art is offered in each school building and each school has outdoor play spaces.

Andrea Campbell

Supports the new exam school admissions policy that considers socioeconomic factors in addition to grades and test scores.
Believes exam school entrance should require an exam.
Wants to borrow money to improve school facilities.
Wants to use one-time federal pandemic relief funding to create a “student acceleration account” with $3,000 per child that parents and caregivers can use toward academic and social-emotional support.

Annissa Essaibi George

Believes exam school entrance should require an exam.
Believes the recent exam school admissions policy change was rushed and didn’t fully understand the impact on all district students.
Wants to use one-time federal pandemic relief funding to decrease disparities in classroom resources, increase district mental health resources and invest in teacher professional development.

Kim Janey

Supports the new exam school admissions policy that considers socioeconomic factors in addition to grades and test scores.
Believes exam school entrance should require an exam.
Wants to increase BPS’s capital budget by 29%.
Will prioritize learning loss, digital equity and school building upgrades when spending one-time federal pandemic relief funding.

Michelle Wu

Supports the new exam school admissions policy that considers socioeconomic factors in addition to grades and test scores.
Believes exam school entrance should require an exam.
Will prioritize facility upgrades like windows and ventilation systems when spending one-time federal pandemic relief funds. She also wants to use the funds to increase district mental health supports and offer more compensatory services for students with disabilities.
Wants to expand universal pre-kindergarten.

For more on the candidates and schools, click here.

Climate Change

As WBUR's Jenny Kornreich reports, all the major candidates support measures to deal with climate change. John Barros

Plans to dedicate 20% of Boston’s capital budget to climate resilience projects.
Supports citywide carbon neutrality by 2050.

Andrea Campbell

Wants every resident to live within walking distance of a park or green space.
Calls for city operations to be carbon neutral and run on 100% renewable energy by 2035.

Annissa Essaibi George

Pledges to make structural updates to Boston Public Schools, which make up the majority of city-owned buildings.
Pushed for renewable energy job training at Madison Park Vocational Technical High School.

Kim Janey

Appointed Boston’s current chief of environment, energy and open space.
Plans to allocate $4 million to the Green Jobs program.

Michelle Wu

Proposed the first city-level Green New Deal in the U.S.
Promises carbon neutrality by 2040, 100% renewable energy by 2030 and a net-zero municipal footprint by 2024.

For more on the candidates and climate change, click here.

'Mass and Cass'

As State House News Service reported, the candidates met in late May for a forum hosted by Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins. The debate centered on issues ranging from how the city should tackle helping residents struggling with homelessness, mental health problems and substance abuse disorders. Much of the conversation focused on issues near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard.

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