As someone who lives in the Boston area I think specifically the real estate holdings of these massive, non-profits should be held to scrutiny.
Boston is pretty constrained in terms of available land - and its large number of expanding universities means that a good portion of it becomes tax-exempt.
The city tried to implement a voluntary payment program to invoke the non-profits’ good will - but you can see for yourself that they rarely get what they asked for - Harvard only paid 80%:
Harvard now owns 1/3 of the Allston neighborhood in Brighton - which for decades had some of the cheapest housing in Boston. If it’s gentrifying, at least let the city capture some revenue.
Boston is pretty constrained in terms of available land - and its large number of expanding universities means that a good portion of it becomes tax-exempt.
The city tried to implement a voluntary payment program to invoke the non-profits’ good will - but you can see for yourself that they rarely get what they asked for - Harvard only paid 80%:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/complete-list-of-colleges-hospi...
Harvard now owns 1/3 of the Allston neighborhood in Brighton - which for decades had some of the cheapest housing in Boston. If it’s gentrifying, at least let the city capture some revenue.