"In the last few years we've created 1,205 units of housing,"Menino said proudly of Boston's efforts to address the growingshortage of available and affordable housing in America. Last yearMenino formed the Housing Strategy Advisory Group, which hasrecently released Leading the Way: A Housing Strategy for Boston.The report maps a three-year strategy to create 7,500 new units ofhousing, rehabilitate 1,100 vacant public housing units, preserve10,000 affordable units, and use $45.5 million in land and otherresources to obtain $2 billion in private and government financing.Menino said on Monday, however, "You can't ask cities to do it allalone."

"This is a partnership," he said of the joining of mayors andmortgage bankers. "We have to set an agenda for the new Congressand whoever wins the presidential election; we can't expect theprivate sector to do it all. This is a good beginning, a goodcatalyst." He added, "We need to focus on how cities createhousing." Menino drew on a popular Dickensian dichotomy when hedeclared, "These are the best of times economically; these are theworst of times economically."

"The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,"he explained. "Urban areas are the economic engines for states. Wehave the jobs, but if we don't have the housing," he said, theeconomic edge will be lost. "This is about urban survival," headded.