Housing Trust Explores Options For Affordable Home Ownership In Amherst

Report On The Meeting Of the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust July 13, 2023

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Carol Lewis and Erica Piedade (Co-chairs), Rob Crowner, Aschleigh Jensen, Allegra Clark, Risha Hess, and Grover Wehman-Brown. Staff: Nate Malloy (Senior Planner)

Debrief From June 20 Listening Session
Trust members reviewed the comments made by residents at the June 20 listening session on housing in Amherst. Co-chairs Carol Lewis and Erica Piedade are compiling a summary to direct further trust activities. They remarked that it was important to be aware of how policies on housing play out in real-life. 

The trust needs to update its strategic plan for the coming years. Grover Wehman-Brown offered to meet with Lewis and Piedade to work on a draft. The trust may use Community Preservation Act funds to hire a consultant to help with the plan. It was agreed that additional meetings will need to be held to discuss the plan.

Option For Affordable Home Ownership: Amherst Community Land Trust
Housing Trust member Rob Crowner, who is also on the board of the Amherst Community Land Trust (ACLT),  gave a presentation on the land trust model and ACLT in particular. He said that land trusts are nonprofits that permanently hold land to provide social and economic benefits to the community. This can encompass conservation and agricultural land, but mainly means land for home ownership.

In its almost 10 years of existence, ACLT has focused on affordable home ownership. Because ACLT owns the land, income qualified homebuyers only need to purchase the house, which lowers their cost by about one-third. The land is provided by a 99-year ground lease, so the homeowner has full use of the land, with most of the benefits and responsibilities of ownership. The homes must be owner occupied, and they can continue to live in the house, even if they no longer qualify as low-income. However, the resale price of the house is limited so that it will still be affordable to those at the same level of Area Mean Income (AMI) as the original purchaser. Therefore, the appreciation of the home is limited by the AMI, not the housing market.

So far, ACLT has provided homes by partnering  with Habitat for Humanity and using a Community Preservation Act grant . Three homes have been donated either fully or in part to the land trust by Amherst residents. With the great rise in home prices in Amherst, Crowner said the donation pathway may be the most viable way for ACLT to obtain additional houses. There is still a $125,000 CPA grant, augmented by $75,000 from ACLT, available for a first-time homeowner. But, even with a $200,000 subsidy, there are few houses in Amherst that would be affordable to those making 80% of AMI (about $90,000 a year for a family of four).

Membership in ACLT is $15 a year and is open to all who support its principles of ensuring permanent affordability of home ownership and shared ownership of properties.

Trust member Aschleigh Jensen noted that houses in Amherst are generally unaffordable, even for young professionals, and that contributes to the lack of residents between the ages of 25 and 50 in town. She said that if someone did not enter the housing market many years ago, it is very difficult to purchase a house now.

Grover Wehman-Brown said that Oakland is working on creating affordable condominium complexes, and this may be a way for Amherst to increase its affordable home ownership. Former AMAHT Chair John Hornik noted that, in addition to ACLT, Habitat for Humanity and Valley CDC (with its proposed Ball Lane Project) are avenues for home ownership.

Legislative Updates
Hornik said that Governor Maura Healy is preparing a bond proposal to raise money to combat the severe shortage of housing in the state, allowing the money to be used for development in the next few years and paid back over a longer term. Amherst can benefit from these bond sales by having projects in the pipeline, he said, and developers with projects already being discussed, such as Wayfinders for the East Street School and Belchertown Road project or Valley CDC for Ball Lane, will be able to apply for the funds. He noted that the Department of Housing and Community Development has been split into two entities. The one dealing with housing is the Executive Office of Housing and Living Communities (EOHLC).

Other bills pending in the legislature include one that guarantees counsel to tenants facing eviction and another that seals eviction records, so that they do not become a permanent part of a person’s housing record and interfere with them attaining housing even if they were a child living in the home when the eviction occurred. The AMAHT voted to send a letter in support of these bills. 

Lottery For East Gables Units Illustrates Enormous Need For Affordable Housing
Laura Baker of Valley CDC said that East Gables, the supportive studio apartments at 132 Northampton Street, is 90% complete. She expects the building to be ready for occupancy in October. There were 501 applications for the 26 studio apartments (two additional apartments are reserved for those served by the Department of Mental Health). A lottery was held in June.

Of the applicants, 280 were currently unhoused, and 400 earned 30% of AMI or less. Twenty  percent of the applicants lived or worked in Amherst or had children in the Amherst schools. The market rate for the studio apartments is $817 per month, but residents will pay one-third of their income. A security deposit and first month’s rent are required at move-in, but Valley CDC will make sure that this is not a barrier for the residents. 

Baker said that Valley CDC expects to submit an application for a comprehensive permit to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Ball Lane project for 30 duplexes for home ownership in August. She does not expect this application to be as contentious as the one for East Gables was, but hopes AMAHT and residents will voice their support for the project.

Work On Permanent Shelter At The VFW
Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek reported that the town is clearing out the VFW building on Main Street in preparation for its demolition this summer. The town will hold a community charette in October to gather ideas on the design of a new building for a permanent homeless shelter and supportive services.  Tim McCarthy, director of Craig’s Doors, will be involved in the process.  The new facility is expected to cost $7 to $14 million. Demolition of the existing building will be paid for with ARPA funds. 

Tenant–Landlord Issues
The town does not track the actions of landlords and is not aware of adverse practices unless there is a complaint. Planner Nate Malloy said that tenants often don’t know their rights and don’t know how to ask questions and advocate for themselves. Often, they are concerned with retaliation from landlords if they complain. Malloy said that he can reach out to landlords about problems without using tenants’ names, but suggested that the AMAHT do outreach and education for tenants and put information on their rights on the housing trust’s website. 

Lewis and Piedade were re-elected as co-chairs of the AMAHT for the coming year. The trust members decided to continue regular meetings on Zoom but will hold meetings on strategic planning in person, outside of the regular meeting time.