This is in response to Kath Allen’s Feb. 21 letter (“Better uses for money”) regarding affordable housing and the bias against those who need it. Allen described the stigma about affordable housing dwellers, that they are “trouble and don’t work,” when, as she stated, they are retirees and essential workers.

My family and I are some of the people affected by the refusal to approve local affordable housing developments that, in part, created this housing crisis. My partner is employed by one of Peterborough’s manufacturing companies. I am a full-time graduate student in mental health counseling, and our child attends Peterborough Elementary School. We are not unemployed troublemakers, but we need affordable housing.

Our landlords are selling the property we rent so we are looking for a new home. We cannot afford to purchase a home with my status as a full-time student – the current median price for Hillsborough county is $405,000 -- and our options for rentals are severely limited.

Peterborough’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee stated in its most recent newsletter that Peterborough’s rental vacancy rate is 0 percent; a healthy vacancy rate is between 5 and 6 percent. Our ability to stay in Peterborough appears to be in dire straits. We will likely need to endure the stress and upheaval of moving to a new town, requiring our child to change schools, all of which will have a cascade of effects on our mental and physical well-being.

While it is far too late to do anything to prevent this from happening to my family and me, it is not too late for elected officials, business owners and residents of all towns to examine their biases and increase their efforts to mitigate the affordable housing crisis for others.

Lora Traffie

Peterborough

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