For many Boston seniors, being priced out does not happen all at once.
It happens one bill at a time. The grocery bill gets a little higher. The heating bill stretches a little further. The cost of medicine, home repairs, insurance, and property taxes keeps creeping up. A small Social Security increase comes in the mail, but instead of making life easier, it can push our older adults over the line for tax relief they were counting on.
That is the quiet math of displacement. No eviction notice. No moving truck. Just year after year of rising costs until the home someone built a life in no longer feels like a home they can afford.
I can’t accept that. Our parents and grandparents bought homes in neighborhoods that were often overlooked. They raised families, supported schools, opened businesses, and kept communities strong through the good and the hard times. Now, as Boston grows more expensive, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to help older residents stay rooted.
That is why I proposed adoption of tax exemption Clause 41D, a modest local option that can help protect Boston’s senior property tax exemption program.
Boston already offers a senior tax exemption for eligible homeowners. But the requirements for the program, the income and asset limits have not kept up with the cost of living. That means the program over time has become harder and harder to qualify for over time.
A modest increase in Social Security, a small pension adjustment, or a little more emergency savings should not be the reason a senior loses property tax relief, but it often does. Clause 41D helps fix that by allowing Boston to update those eligibility limits each year based on inflation.
I’ll be honest with you, this is not a big flashy proposal. It does not solve every problem. It does not undo the full weight of Boston’s affordability crisis. But it is one tool we have, and one that we can use right now at the City Council without needing State House approval. The City Council has also approved a broader senior tax relief proposal through a home rule petition that would increase significantly the overall exemption and income amounts, thereby increasing the number of seniors who would qualify for an exemption. That bill is important and I support it, but it has been lingering at the State House and it is unclear whether it will see movement. While we do not have the power to increase the overall exemption limits at the city level, we do have the power to adjust them to the cost of living. And we should be doing whatever it takes, big or small, to ease the burden on our seniors.
This is also about protecting the history and heart of our neighborhoods. Many seniors, especially Black and Brown homeowners, navigated Boston through foreclosure, redlining, gentrification and displacement. The ones who have managed to hold onto their homes deserve to be able to age in place with dignity if that is their choice. Their homes are more than just property. They are a story of survival and resilience.
When we help seniors stay in their homes, we are protecting neighborhoods, we are protecting community, and we are protecting the people who made Boston what it is.
Our seniors invested in Boston. Now Boston must invest in them.
Ruthzee Louijeune serves as an at-large member of the Boston City Council.
