To the Editor: Housing prices in Arlington are much too high. In fact, the median house sells for about $1.1 million, according to Redfin. This might be seen as good for many homeowners, who will be able to sell off their house for a nice profit.
But this could lead to consequences. If Arlington becomes more unaffordable, then fewer people will be able to afford to live here. This will lead to the town losing out on tax revenue and potentially having to cut or reduce some services, such as free lunch in schools or housing programs.
As we saw with the override, if Arlington loses out just a small amount of income, it has to make cuts to the town’s services, departments, and schools. Plus, one of the things that makes Arlington Arlington is the town’s great schools. If the town loses its schools, it would be even more devastating and cause a cycle of the schools getting worse and worse. Not to mention the amazing (and free) music programs the schools offer. Ottoson by itself offers five different chorus programs for its students, and it will probably have to eliminate some of them if the funding is cut.
Everyone who lives in Arlington agrees it’s a great place to live. Nobody wants to lose that. But no one wants the town to become a place only affordable for the richest of the rich. Everyone wants the town to remain a great place, without becoming impossible to live in. Housing prices everywhere are rising because of inflation, and that is mostly natural, but the median housing prices have gone up from just over $900,000 to nearly $1.2 million in the last five years, as opposed to the median house in the U.S., which has only gone up about $70,000 in the past five years.
This problem might seem abstract for the everyday person to solve. But, if you really care, you can petition the town government or run for Town Meeting, which is very easy. We can also try to raise taxes so the various committees in our town (Affordable Housing Overlay District Committee and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board) can build more housing that people can afford. Right now, the Affordable Housing Overlay District Committee already has a large budget and is either building or planning to build many housing units, but there are still not nearly enough units.
There are a couple of ways that we could raise the funding for these committees, including raising taxes, but we understand that, given the recent override, citizens are probably not the most enthusiastic about raising them again. So we could also look for funding from other areas or try to spend the money more effectively, so we can do more with less. We could try to get the town to move funding away from areas that may have too much funding or aren’t spending their funding effectively, and move it to the housing committees. The Trust Fund Board and the Overlay Committee could even work together to share any information that they have gotten and/or share funds that they have acquired.
If you want to have a more direct influence on the housing prices in Arlington, you can help by emailing a local influencer or decision maker like [Town Manager] Jim Feeney, or a committee leader, or some other form of communication. You can also watch for committee openings and even become a committee leader yourself. This isn’t something anyone can solve on their own, so it is always good to raise awareness and get others invested in this problem. If we can get enough people working on this problem publicly, people in places of power will notice and be pressured to take action. If we all work together, we can actually make a difference.
Thanks for reading our opinion on this topic. We’re two Ottoson Middle School 8th-grade students, and we hope that you can support this cause
Lionel Bakum and Will Norton, Ottoson students
This letter to the editor was published on June 9, 2026.
