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Interesting debate at #BrooklineTownMeeting tonight over whether to allow micro-units (apartments under 500 sq ft) to be built in town. A few of my observations, as someone who supports micro-units and generally thinks we should build more housing in places like #Brookline:
1) We need to make it easier & more affordable for more people to live in walkable, transit-rich communities. Micro-units aren't a silver bullet, but they're one step in the right direction. And if we can't take small steps, how will we ever solve our really big problems?
2) Many opponents speak as though the benefits of living in Brookline are scarce resources. They say that more people/more development will put a strain on shared resources and services, and diminish what makes Brookline a great community....
I believe that welcoming more people to our community will make Brookline a better place to live. More residents can support more restaurants & shops, share the cost of maintaining fixed infrastructure (like roads), support better transit service, bring new perspectives....
Perhaps by articulating a positive vision of a more populous Brookline, we can win over more public support for building micro-units and other new housing.
3) I am troubled by the use of zoning to exclude people deemed undesirable (an idea with a very ugly history). One speaker tonight said that micro-unit residents were likely to be "transient young professional males" and therefore we shouldn't allow micro-units in Brookline.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to vote in favor of micro-units tonight because of a drafting error that was discovered very late in the process, but I'm grateful to @cdempc for offering a sensible referral motion that will bring the issue back to town meeting next May.
And a huge thanks to @MichaelZoorob, @jeffwachter, @megglevene, and others advocating for more housing in Brookline. I'm a total amateur when it comes to housing policy, but I'm glad to be able to cast my vote in support of the good proposals they bring forward.
