Selectmen ponder idea for affordable housing trust
By Mike BergerSelectmen will be looking for more information but had a positive initial reaction to the proposed formation of a Canton Municipal Affordable Housing Trust and the benefits it may offer the town.
Town Planner Laura Smead and Shelly Goehring of the Mass. Housing Partnership presented the proposal to selectmen at their meeting Tuesday night. Although selectmen were non-committal, Smead intends to reach out to the Canton Community Preservation Committee (CCPC) and the Canton Housing Authority for their comments before reappearing before the BOS on December 18.
If selectmen approve the formation of a housing trust in theory, language would then be drafted for a warrant article to be considered at the May town meeting.
According to the proposal, a designated board of trustees, made up of residents and town officials, would concentrate on creating and preserving affordable housing in Canton. The CCPC, meanwhile, will continue to review and vet proposed community housing projects, along with other recreation, open space, and historic preservation proposals. Statewide, there have been 109 housing trusts established to date.
Goehring said a housing trust could address affordable housing needs, engage in real estate activity, collect money from a variety of sources, and make timely decisions.
Selectmen were particularly interested when Smead announced that the town’s affordable housing percentage is projected to drop below the state-mandated 10 percent threshold by 2035 and a large number of affordable units will expire in 2030. Selectmen are concerned that if the percentage drops below 10 percent, developers could come to Canton and build large complexes under MGL Chapter 40B with limited town control. Smead said creating or preserving an average of eight to nine units a year for the next 16 years could make up the difference. She added that her projections took into consideration the 60 affordable units that town will be gaining from the Paul Revere Heritage development on Revere Street.
Smead wrote in her report to selectmen, “We don’t have an effective mechanism to fund or preserve affordable housing units outside of an annual town meeting cycle. We haven’t been able to fully realize the potential of the Community Preservation [Act] funds set aside for affordable housing and we do not have a straightforward way to use developer (or other funding streams) to create or preserve affordable housing.”
Smead and Goehring suggested that funds for the trust could come from the CCPC, municipal bonds, developer-negotiated fees, cell phone tower lease payments, tax title sales, general fund-free cash and/or a tax override …
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Posted by Mike Berger
on Dec 7 2018. Filed under News, Town Government.
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