Bonita Grubbs calls for the structural change necessary to substantively address New Haven's affordable housing problem: First, due to city policy, a number of buildings were razed. Some of those units were substandard and beyond rehabilitation. However, based on what I have observed, no effort has been made to replace the rental units that were lost. Second, I have talked to a number of individuals who have used the dreaded word, gentrification, as if to say that folks whose incomes are high are displacing those whose incomes are low. I have no facts to substantiate those subjective statements. But, when I hear elected officials in New Haven talking about gentrification, those statements are not to be ignored. Third, the definition of affordable has changed. Years ago, programs were developed that allowed individuals whose incomes were low to pay no more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing. Now, affordability is being defined generically as 30 percent of income. That would be fine, except that 30 percent of today's fair market rental values exceeds what is affordable for those whose incomes are low. Fourth, in Connecticut, funds to produce housing for those whose incomes are low have decreased. In the 1990s $125 million in bond funds was available for housing. In this year's legislative session, the General Assembly approved $15 million in bonding for affordable housing. Fifth, at the federal level, Congress has authorized cuts in the Section 8 program, which furnishes rent subsidies for 2 million of the country's most vulnerable families. This change has caused one financial institution to scrap an innovative home mortgage program aimed at promoting home ownership through Section 8. And, the bond market has lost faith in Section 8-related programs. Sixth and finally, the amount of emphasis on homeownership has increased and affordability has, in some cases, become synonymous with being a first-time homebuyer. As a condominium owner, I am aware of the multiple benefits of homeownership. I just know that not everyone wants to or is able to purchase and maintain a house or condominium. And Zach calls for a renewed movement to grapple with Yale's role in urban gentrification: With the victory of the extension of the homebuyer program to Fair Haven and West Rock, this sounds like a clarion call for New Haven activists to revisit and rethink not only the city's policies towards housing...but also the ways in which Yale's presence and its actions in the community have made rents rise beyond affordability. In 1973 (i think) the Yale Faculty voted to encourage the university to replace every housing unit lost through its expansion. That would be a start.