Fall River. (Photo by Eric Kilby via Creative Commons/Flickr)

FALL RIVER IS about to transform 20 acres of its waterfront along the Taunton River into a vibrant new neighborhood with up to 1,500 homes, parks, public spaces, and commercial development.

Members of United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Massachusetts are excited about the future of our waterfront, but there is one glaring problem with the plan: Even though local residents struggle with one of the Commonwealth’s most serious affordable housing shortages, Fall River’s current vision for the transformed waterfront calls only for market-rate developments. There is no commitment to include homes affordable to residents with lower incomes.

This is a once-in-a-generation chance that we cannot afford to get wrong. And the timing could not be more important.

On July 24, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, a state agency that owns the valuable site, gave developers until October 26 to submit bids to build and transform the land. As the city’s daily newspaper, The Herald News, recently put it, “There’s no better time to be a developer with an eye and an appetite for the Fall River waterfront.” There should also be no better time to make sure the transformed waterfront includes homes for people across a range of incomes—not just those who can afford higher rents.

The waterfront redevelopment is a defining opportunity for the South Coast and the future downtown and center of Fall River. MassDOT estimates that this historic project will increase property values by more than $200 million and is expected to generate approximately $1 billion in private sector investment.

To make the redeveloped waterfront possible, MassDOT spent an estimated $118-$140 million, together with $1.4 million in Fall River’s ARPA funds to remove Route 79, reconnect downtown to the Taunton River, and light the Braga Bridge. Those taxpayer resources may be just the beginning — the bid package anticipates millions more in state and local investment.

Those past and future taxpayer investments should produce a waterfront that serves the entire community—with parks. open space, public access to the river – and provides housing opportunities for people of all incomes. Unfortunately, under Fall River’s current plans for the almost 1,500 homes slated for the site, bidders must defer to the city’s “strong preference for market-rate housing as the development option for the Property.”

The city has also designated the area as an HDIP district, making developers eligible for millions in state tax credits and local tax exemptions for market-rate projects, and Fall River’s Urban Renewal Plan offers no meaningful commitment to mixed-income or affordable housing. Instead, the city’s Waterfront Master Plan explicitly calls for strategies to “capture market-rate demand” and obtain a “meaningful rent premium.”

The plan anticipates initial average rents of almost $2,100 a month—roughly $300-$800 more than Fall River’s average market rents. At those rents, a household would need an income of more than $82,000 to afford the average apartment without being housing-cost burdened. And those rents could increase with no limits.

Unless Fall River changes course, housing made possible by taxpayers may be off limits to local residents struggling with high rents and evictions.

Fall River is no longer “cheap” compared with other Gateway Cities. Median gross rents rose by 44 percent between 2019 and 2024 and continue to increase. Nearly one-quarter of city renters are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income on housing, while 52 percent—more than 13,600 households—were cost-burdened in 2024, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, up from 11,300 households in 2019.

The Fall River Housing Authority reported 4,604 local households on its Housing Choice Voucher waiting list as of December and says the typical waiting period is 10 years. Just 18 households were admitted to the voucher program in 2025, while 8,375 families are on the public housing waiting list.

Fall River has added multi-family housing in recent years, but almost all of it has been market rate. Since 2017, almost 1,000 market-rate rental and ownership units have been developed and the city has approved or is supporting several dozen projects with more than 1,800 additional market-rate units. Meanwhile, the number of income-restricted units has actually declined as affordability restrictions on older projects have expired or been released.

Recent studies from MassINC and Housing Navigator Mass. rank Fall River among the Gateway Cities with the greatest shortages of affordable units. At the same time, while 98 cities and towns produced affordable homes in 2024 and 2025, Fall River developed none.

The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute’s report, “Fall River Needs a Balanced Housing Strategy,” concludes that the city’s extreme affordable housing deficit reflects decades of local policies emphasizing market-rate production while largely neglecting affordable homes for ordinary residents.

We can’t let the waterfront redevelopment repeat these mistakes. A waterfront built with extraordinary public investment should create an extraordinary public benefit. The MassDOT bid process is now underway, but it is not too late — the city’s goals can still be revised. Fall River and state leaders should ensure that the waterfront plans and development process require meaningful mixed-income projects. The future neighborhood should welcome people who already live in Fall River as well as those who will move here.

Future generations will live with decisions being made today. Let’s make sure the new waterfront truly belongs to everyone.

Tracy Albernaz is the Fall River community organizer for United Interfaith Action, a faith-based organization that promotes social and economic justice to improve the quality of life for all residents of Southeastern Massachusetts,