Boston Council Hears Calls to Expand Rent Subsidies, Rethink White Stadium Budget

BOSTON — April 22, 2025 — Boston residents urged the City Council to expand housing subsidies and reconsider a $90 million White Stadium renovation at a public FY26 budget hearing Tuesday. Committee on Ways and Means Chair Brian Worrell convened the session under dockets 0822 through 0830, with Council President Liz Breadon, Vice Chair Enrique J. Pepén, and Councilors Edward M. Flynn, Henry Santana, and Erin J. Murphy attending. Michael Caine of the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants requested a $4 million increase to the city rent subsidy program, warning the mayor's FY26 proposal already cuts roughly $3 million from the housing office. Domingo Cintron, a 72-year-old Vietnam-era veteran facing homelessness, told councilors, "I hope that you can support this program so that I don't have to sleep on concrete mattresses anymore." Karen Mauney-Broderick of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy warned the current stadium plan could cost Boston up to $140 million more than it earns over a decade and offered a $30 million public alternative. The council plans to vote on the budget June 4.