Public Meeting
December 05, 2003
9:00 a.m.
Members Present: Arturo Alon, Cindy Bowes, and Scott Campbell
Members Absent: Eileen Kennedy
(excused)
Tim
Hazel and Teri Nezbeth (both unexcused)
Advisors: Maxine
Notaro
Meeting Agenda
Up-date on pending Affordable Housing
Projects
Maxine has
nothing on Ken Weiss. Also, based on
the latest findings by Kopelman & Paige, evidently Tim Hazel is not in a
conflict of interest.
Judy Mensche on
68 Race Point Road is wondering about the possibility of going from ownership
of a condo to rental of it. Maxine said
it had been deed restricted for occupant ownership.
Motion:
AJ made a motion that this could not be allowed – it’s a one bedroom
ownership and that’s how it should stand.
Cindy Bowes seconded the motion and it passed 3-0-0.
Discussion with Community Housing
Resource, Inc.
Ted Malone took
up a large part of the meeting with a tutorial for the Local Housing
Partnership. He told the group about
the “hoped for” results of the Growth Management Plan and also addressed the
new categories for home ownership. The
new affordable term has been changed to affordable/ moderate and then moves on
to other categories – all based on needs and income.
Ted further told
the group that rental housing is very hard to produce but ownership
developments are easier to accomplish because they rely on minimum public
subsidies. Rentals really help people
move to the next step i.e., home ownership.
After a lot of
explanations of the different types of units, tracking the finances of the
tenants and/or lottery winners, it became evident to all concerned that a few
more directives or rules are needed to deal with the “what-if” situations. One example was a real one – Chet Jones on
West Vine who won the lottery a while ago is currently living in a one bedroom
unit and also rents a studio elsewhere.
Now that The Meadows complex is going to be built, he wishes he could
swap his one-bedroom unit for one with a studio attached at the new
complex. Dilemma – Does he enter the
lottery for The Meadows even though he has an affordable unit? – and what if he
is chosen? – does his current unit go back into a lottery? – or go to the 1st
runner-up in The Meadows? – or what?
These are issues that should be addressed before they arise so there are
solutions in place before problems come up.
Thrashing these things out would be under the purview of the LHP. Food for thought!
Another scenario
would be a mother who moves into the a rental complex with two teen-age
children and gets a 2 or 3 bedroom unit.
When these children grow-up and move away, might the mother then want to
down-grade and thus reduce her monthly rent?
What is the mechanism for that to happen? – or what if her fortunes
increase and she now wants to purchase rather than rent a unit in an affordable
complex? How does she go about doing
that?
The aim is to
allow people to move up either from rental to ownership or one bedroom to two
bedroom, and also to down-size if they so desire, etc. AJ suggested having a newsletter for tenants
telling them of the opportunities that are upcoming.
Ted sees
everything in the affordable housng group having deed restrictions eventually.
The first lottery for home ownership was Hensche Lane.
Ted would like a
definitive policy on the possible scenarios he just presented. There should be some mechanism for people to
be able to use the deed restricted housing stock to attain better fits for
owners/tenants.
Ted feels the
Massachusetts Housing Partnership should change their rules regarding swapping
units. The rules now say they have to
NOT OWN property for three years to become eligible again for an affordable
unit. Ted encourages renters to move
toward ownership and thinks it just needs to be a fleshed out policy.
Michael Bunn
left at 9:40 a.m.
Ted thinks it
would be worthwhile writing a policy about ownership and rentals. In rentals you can suggest that as they
downsize they can move to a smaller place.
Rentals are one thing and ownership of unit is another. AJ is thinking about the group writing a
policy suggesting downsizing opportunities.
Ted then went on
about permits for moderate and medium coming out of category 1 – but the middle
income ones will come out of category 2.
This was a subject also discussed at length.
Discussion on Criteria for Evaluating
Affordable Housing Proposals
Ted, talking
about The Meadows, said that for an artist’s stdio – you can’t have a 3rd floor commercial space without 2 means of
egress. More importantly – is there a
policy about an affordable housing unit serving a particular need? For example: – if there’s something extra
they need – is it permissible to charge more for that unit? (It may narrow who can afford it.) This should be a policy if the LHP
agrees. There is a requirement that
they demonstrate a need for a studio.
Discussion on developing a monitoring
program for properties with affordable permits
AJ announced
that he and Tim Hazel never did get together to write the letter to the BoS and
the Town Manager.
Vote to support Affordable Housing Bylaws
and proposed Growth Management bylaws
Anything above
the allowed rent goes into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Ted left at
10:24 a.m.
Any other business that shall properly
come before the board
Clem & Ursie’s
Maxine called
Debbie and they haven’t heard from the Bank yet. Clem said he wasn’t renting because it was too much to keep
up.?????? AJ wants to see affordable
units being advertised, especially the 1 bedroom handicapped accessible.
Motion:
Cindy Bowes made a motion to accept the minutes of the previous
meeting. Scott Campbell seconded the
motion and it was approved 3-0-0.
AJ encouraged
the group to attend the Affordable Housing workshops which happen at 5:00p.m.
on Wednesdays.
The meeting
adjourned at 10:45 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Evelyn Gaudiano
Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano
_______________________________________on _______________ 2003..
Arturo Alon,
Chairman