Description: David Boeri reports that Ray Flynn (Mayor of Boston) and the Boston City Council will work together to create a public housing policy that ensures equal access while providing some element of choice. Boeri notes that the city must comply with the policy of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) if they wish to continue receiving federal funds. Boeri's report includes footage of Flynn, Charles Yancey (Boston City Council), and Bruce Bolling (Boston City Council) at a press conference about fair housing policy. Boeri's report also features footage from an interview with James Kelly (Boston City Council). Kelly says that free choice is more important than racial diversity. Boeri reviews the current housing policy and the policy requirements of HUD. Boeri's report also includes footage of white and African American tenants of public housing and by footage of Dapper O'Neil (Boston City Council). This edition of the Ten O'Clock News also included the following item: Sonia Sanchez
1:00:10: Visual: Footage of Ray Flynn (Mayor of Boston) speaking to the press. Charles Yancey (Boston City Council) stands beside him. Flynn says that Boston's housing policy will guarantee equal access to housing for all. David Boeri reports that Flynn met with the Boston City Council about public housing issues; that Yancey said that the meeting was productive. Boeri reports that Flynn and the Council agreed that equal access to public housing must be guaranteed. V: Footage of Bruce Bolling (Boston City Council) saying that no families will be displaced from public housing in order to achieve integration. Boeri reports that Flynn and the Council agreed to work together constructively on the issue. Boeri notes that Dapper O'Neil (Boston City Council) was not present at the meeting; that James Kelly (Boston City Council) did not join Flynn and the other councillors for the press conference after the meeting. V: Shot of O'Neil at a meeting in the City Council chambers. Footage of Kelly in his office. Kelly says that people should be able to choose where they want to live; that the new policy will create "forced housing" instead of "fair housing." Boeri notes that the current housing selection process allows each applicant to select choose three public housing projects where he or she would like to live. Boeri reports that South Boston residents usually list the three housing projects in South Boston; that the three housing projects are all white. V: Shots of Flynn and the councillors speaking to the press; of a white woman looking out of a window of an apartment in a project building; of a white woman and white children in front of a project building; of a sign for the Old Colony Housing Project in South Boston. Shot of a housing project in South Boston. Shots from a moving vehicle of a housing project in Mission Hill. Shot of an African American boy near a dumpster outside of a public housing project. Boeri notes that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has called Boston's housing policy discriminatory; that the three-choice system has been rejected in other cities. Boeri reports that HUD has recommended a city-wide list, where applicants take the first available apartment. V: Shots of white residents outside of a public housing project in South Boston. Footage of Kelly saying that there is nothing wrong with giving tenants a choice about where they want to live. Kelly says that free choice may result in housing developments which are not racially diverse; that free choice is more important than racial diversity. Shot of Bolling. Boeri reports that Bolling would also like to protect the three-choice system. Boeri notes that HUD provides 70% of Boston's public housing funds; that Boston stands to lose $75 million if they do not comply with HUD policy. V: Shot from a moving vehicle of a manicured lawn in front of a public housing development; of a public housing project on Fidelis Way. Footage of Bolling saying that the city will try to negotiate with HUD to develop an application process with some degree of choice for tenants. Boeri notes that the HUD policy will make tenants choose between living in public housing and living in the neighborhood of choice. Boeri notes that there are 14,500 families on the waiting list for public housing in Boston. V: Shots of public housing projects in Boston; of a racially diverse group of children playing outside of a project building.
Collection: Ten O'Clock News
Date Created: 01/14/1988
Description: Deborah Wang reports that a delegation of forty residents from Yonkers, New York, visited Boston to learn about the city's approach to public housing. The delegation toured Boston's model housing projects, which contain a mix of low-, middle- and upper-income units. Wang reports that the city of Yonkers is divided over the issue of mixed-income public housing and affordable housing. She reviews the public housing situation in Yonkers. Wang's report includes footage of the city of Yonkers and footage of the Yonkers delegation discussing housing at a meeting with Amy Anthony (Secretary of Communities and Development for the City of Boston). Charles Cola (Yonkers City Council), Anthony DiPopallo and JoAnne Gardner (Yonkers resident) talk about public housing in Yonkers and in Boston. Boston Mayor Ray Flynn addressed the delegation about Boston's efforts to provide affordable housing for city residents. Members of the delegation, including Peter Chema and Mel Ellen, talk about their impressions of the visit.
1:00:08: Visual: Footage of Yonkers residents exiting a bus in a Boston neighborhood. Deborah Wang reports that a delegation of forty residents from Yonkers, NY, arrived in Boston to see how Boston has solved its public housing dilemma. V: Footage of Yonkers from "We the People." Shots of a school bus traveling on a street in Yonkers; of a residential street in Yonkers; of housing projects in Yonkers. Wang reports that the city of Yonkers has agreed to build 800 units of affordable housing in the city's predominantly white East End; that the city's affordable housing had all been built in the less affluent West End. Wang reports that the city of Yonkers is divided over the issue of affordable housing. V: Footage of Charles Cola (Yonkers City Council) saying that he wanted to see how public housing works in Boston; that he hopes to accomplish the same thing in Yonkers. Footage of Anthony DiPopallo (Yonkers resident) talking about the integration of public housing in Yonkers. Footage of JoAnne Gardner (Yonkers resident) saying that the city of Yonkers needs to need to build affordable housing according to the wishes of neighborhood residents. Gardner says that she does not want to be bused across town to live. Amy Anthony (Secretary of Communities and Development) responds to Gardner. Anthony says that the Yonkers residents need to look at what was done in Boston and then apply it to their own neighborhoods. Wang reports that delegation from Yonkers toured the city of Boston's model housing projects; that the housing projects contain a mix of low-income, middle-income and upper-income units. Wang reports that the city of Boston has been ordered to build 800 units of mixed-income housing; that the city of Boston has been building mixed-income housing for years. V: Shots of construction site; of the exterior of a housing development in Mission Hill. Wang reports that the city helped to build 165 units of mixed-income housing in Mission Hill; that half of the units will go to low- and moderate-income residents. V: Footage of Ray Flynn (Mayor of Boston) addressing the delegation from Yonkers. Flynn talks about one of the housing developments. Flynn talks about the efforts of the city and the community to turn a vacant lot into a housing development. Shots of the delegation from Yonkers as they tour a housing development. Wang reports that the politicians in the Yonkers delegation were impressed. V: Shot of Flynn speaking to members of the delegation. Footage of Peter Chema (Yonkers City Council) saying that it is helpful to see successful mixed-income housing developments. Chema says that the visit to Boston has allayed some of the fears of opponents of mixed-income units in Yonkers. Footage of Mel Ellen (Yonkers resident), DiPopallo and other members of the delegation standing near their bus. Ellen says that a Boston housing development would be a "slum" in East Yonkers. Footage of Ellen talking to a reporter. Ellen says that the government is using Yonkers to experiment with new forms of public housing; that the residents of Yonkers have no recourse if the "experiment" does not work. Footage of Anthony saying that the Boston tour has given the Yonkers delegation an idea of what is possible. Shot of a drawing of a drawing of an urban cityscape.
Collection: Ten O'Clock News
Date Created: 09/23/1988