The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 The Boston Globe B7

Business

By Robert Weisman

GLOBE STAFF

A new Harvard study shows the in-

equality of wealth and opportunity

that has become a stubborn feature of

American life is being entrenched in

the oldest segment of society.

Recent income gains — from in-

vestments, property appreciation, and

retirement income — have gone dis-

proportionately to the highest earners

in the 65-and-older age group, while

the number of older households bur-

dened by housing costs has reached an

all-time high, according to the report

by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing

Studies.

The study, released Wednesday,

comes as the number and share of old-

er households in the United States are

increasing to record levels, bringing

the growing inequality to the fore as

millions of seniors grapple with hous-

ing affordability and financial security

in retirement.

“It’s a reflection of the larger forces

HARVARD, Page B9

Wealthinequality

growingamong

seniors,studysays

Shirley Leung

N

ow that the Red Line service is back

to normal (for now), it’s time to turn

our attention to the other festering

crisis — the high cost of housing.

It was the top issue voters wanted

to talk about with Charlie Baker when he ran

for reelection last year, and it has been top of

mind for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who last

week made an impassioned plea for more

middle-class housing in his annual speech to

Boston bigwigs.

“Housing is not a commodity; it’s a com-

munity. It’s where people build their lives,”

Walsh told about 700 people at the Greater

Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast. “We

have to be able to provide security and stabili-

ty in our communities, and we have to be able

to house our workforce.”

Here’s the thing: When the T breaks down,

we can watch the agony unfold on social me-

dia. A derailment.A runaway train.A commut-

er rail engine on fire.

Harder to detect is the fallout from a hous-

ing crisis. We don’t see it when people can’t af-

ford the rent, can’t buy the home they want,

or can’t stay in the state because the cost of liv-

ing is too high.

But with the median price of a single-fami-

ly home in Greater Boston hitting $640,000 in

August, the cost of housing is the evil twin of

our broken transportation system. The two

are inexorably intertwined. If we had a more

robust T and less road congestion, there

would be more places people could live with-

out commutes lasting more than two hours

each way.

Instead, prospective home buyers are fight-

ing for the same properties in many cities and

towns, driving up prices to record highs.

We know how to solve this problem: Create

more supply.

That has been Baker’s approach. He’s dou-

bling down on zoning reform and once again

pushing for a bill that would allow municipali-

ties to change some zoning designations with

a simple majority vote by the local governing

body, instead of the current two-thirds.

Here’s a statistic the governor likes to cite

about why the Massachusetts housing market

LEUNG, Page B10

Whilepoliticiansdebatereformstoincreasesupply,

homeownersandprospectivebuyersstruggle

Jon Chesto

CHESTO MEANS BUSINESS

Boston Harbor Cruis-
es has sailed a long way
in its 93 years, from the
early days of half-hour
cruises on the Charles to
the mighty perch it holds
today as the harbor’s
dominant ferry operator.
But now, the company
heads into uncharted wa-
ters: ownership by an
out-of-state operator, one controlled by a private equity
firm. The four family members who own Nolan Associates
LLC completed the sale of BHC on Tuesday to Hornblower
Holdings, a Chicago ferry and cruise company, for an un-

disclosed amount.

The transfer comes at a crucial time as local leaders

weigh expanding commuter boat options. BHC executive

Alison Nolan has been pivotal in these talks, in part be-

cause her company already runs the Massachusetts Bay

Transportation Authority’s ferries for Charlestown, Hing-

ham, and Hull.

What will happen now that a Chicago company is call-

ing the shots?

Good news, ferry fans: Nolan will stay on board as gen-

eral manager. No sailing into the sunset for her. In fact, she

expects nearly everyone in the nearly 600-person workforce

to remain. The Boston Harbor Cruises name and logo will

stay, too.

Yes, it’s bittersweet to end nearly a century of family

ownership. But Nolan portrays this development as a posi-

tive one for the civic leaders who are floating plans to ex-

pand ferry service. BHC, she says, had pretty much maxed

out its capacity for additional fleet and technology invest-

ments under family ownership. Hornblower, she notes, has

considerable ferry experience, most notably with the mas-

sive expansion that has taken place in New York City.

BHC brought 44 Boston Harbor boats into Hornblower’s

fleet, which now totals 137 vessels, post-acquisition.

(The Nolan family continues to own, for now, a dozen

research and construction boats under the name Blue

CHESTO MEANS BUSINESS, Page B9

Boston Harbor Cruises is sold to a Chicago firm

DAVID L RYAN, GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2018

The MBTA last

week approved

transferring its

commuter ferry

contract to

BHC’s new

owner.

100

Cities and towns throughout Greater

Boston surveyed by the Metropolitan

Area Planning Council from 2016

through the summer of 2019

146

86

22

Number of proposed changes to zoning that involved housing production

Number that would have qualified for a simple majority vote

Number that received a simple majority vote but failed because they lacked two-thirds support

MORE. FASTER.

More new

housing

construction

like the Olmsted

Green

development

(above) in

Mattapan is

desperately

needed to

alleviate the

housing crisis in

Massachusetts.

DAVID L. RYAN/

GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2019

By Shirley Leung

GLOBE STAFF

The City of Boston on Wednesday

terminated its relationship with bil-

lionaire money manager Ken Fisher,

pulling about $248 million in pension

fund money from his firm following

lewd comments he made last week.

The Boston pension board voted 5

to 0 at a regularly scheduled meeting

to drop Fisher Investments, joining a

growing number of government pen-

sion funds that have cut ties with the

Washington state company.

The city began reviewing its hold-

ings as news stories spread about Fish-

er’s remarks at an investment confer-

ence in California. According to an ac-

count posted online by a CEO in

attendance, Fisher spoke about pick-

ing up women, genitalia, and dis-

graced financier and sex offender Jef-

frey Epstein. Fisher has since apolo-

gized.

Before the vote, Mayor Martin J.

Walsh, who appoints some of the pen-

sion board’s members, asked that it

pull city money from Fisher.

“The statements made by Ken Fish-

er implicate not only his own judge-

ment, but potentially that of the com-

pany as a whole,” Walsh wrote to the

board. “Boston will not invest in com-

panies led by people who treat women

like commodities.”

The city relies on outside invest-

ment firms to manage its $5 billion

pension fund and has been using Fish-

er Investments since 2006.

Emme Handy, chief financial offi-

cer for the city, said it has a fiduciary

responsibility to pensioners, and while

the CEO’s comments were “incredibly

distasteful,” they also represented

FISHER, Page B10

City fires

pension

firm after

lewd talk

Pulls$248moutof

FisherInvestments