Meet Falmouth's Newest Select Board Member: Onjalé Scott Price

Falmouth MA

19 May, 2021

6:22 PM

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FALMOUTH, MA — Falmouth voters supported Onjalé Scott Price in the select board race, the first person of color to ever hold the office. Price defeated Michael Heylin 2,697-1,265, and she said she's excited to address important issues in town, including improving access to affordable housing. "I was thrilled at the results, and overwhelmed with joy and appreciation," Price said. "I am excited to know I have such great support from the community, and I look forward to serving this community." In an interview with Patch, Price said improving access to affordable housing is the most important issue in town. She described it as an issue that affects the local economy, the environment and economic and social equity. "A lack of community workforce housing is really the backbone to many other issues we have in town," Price said. Price said she sometimes uses the terms community or workforce housing, because affordable housing often has a negative stigma attached to it. She said people often are legitimately concerned about dense buildings that don't match the character of the town — or they don't realize that affordable housing means different things for different communities. "We don't want giant apartment complexes, but we need to be more creative than building more single-family homes," Price said a lack of affordable housing hurts the local economy because people working in town, including police officers, firefighters, grocery store works and more, can't always afford to live in Falmouth. And when they can't afford to live in Falmouth, most of their money gets spent in other towns, rather than in Falmouth, Price said. She also said this creates an issue of fairness from an economic and social perspective. "People that work in this town deserve the option to live here," Price said. "It's problematic to say, 'we don't want you to have an opportunity to live here, but we need you to work here to sustain our local economy.'" The lack of affordable housing also brings negative environmental ramifications, Price said. She cited the long commutes non-residents make to work in Falmouth, adding to the town's carbon footprint. The SolutionBefore voters elected Price to the select board, she was a member of the Falmouth Affordable Housing Committee. Price said the committee gets most of its money from Community Preservation Act funds, but additional funds are needed to address affordable housing. Price said the committee identified eight potential revenue sources, and none of them will raise taxes or increase the town budget. But to get that money, the town needs to have projects planned. "We need to put our money where our mouth is and collectively say, as a town we need more affordable housing," Price said. Price said the committee will vote Thursday on the funding plan and will share it with other town committees and boards. She said the plan will be shared on the town website and community input will come after.