Malden navigates growing housing crisis
By Maile Blume Longtime Malden residents are being priced out of their homes and separated from their neighbors because of an ongoing rise in the cost of housing. In response, Malden is taking steps to address the affordable housing shortage that has emerged throughout the city. A recent film created by community members in the “Filmbuilding Malden” program – coordinated through Urban Media Arts – celebrates the diversity that characterizes Malden, but also explores how the city’s changing housing landscape is displacing the very residents that make the city so diverse. “I’m always proud of how diverse we are, but I feel that with the changes in our community, we’re pricing out working-class families that cannot afford to continue to live in a place where they have given so much and have brought just an intangible value,” said resident Zatcha Montes in the film “Green Elephant,” one of the five films in the series that explore the question “Who is Malden?” “We had a friend who recently moved who could not afford to live here, […]