RECAP: MEETING OF THE AMHERST MUNICIPAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST (7/11/19)

Highlights:

• Overview of the work of the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust (AMAHT)
• Discussion of scarcity of affordable housing for families in Amherst
• Potential site for development of new housing, and update on East Street School project
• Resignations of Craig’s Door’s director and staff
• Follow up on Valley CDC studio apartment project on Northampton Road.

The Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust (AMAHT) 

The AMAHT is a nine-member town committee established in 2014 to promote affordable housing in Amherst. The chairman is John Hornik. The first meeting since the appointments of four new members (Carol Lewis, Will Van Heuvelen, Rob Crowner, and Erica Piedade) was held on July 11 in the first-floor meeting room of Town Hall. Most of the meeting was an orientation to the goals of the Trust, but some interesting issues were raised in the business part of the meeting.

The five year goals of the trust are to:

1. Actively foster development of affordable housing
2.  Support homelessness prevention initiatives
3. Seek opportunities to promote conservation-based development
4. Enhance local and regional collaboration
5. Expand availability of direct housing assistance, e.g., rent subsidies
6. Promote outreach and education

The trust is primarily funded via the Community Preservation Act, but it also obtains support from the Interfaith Housing Coalition, Community Block Grants, and donations. The Community Support Program for People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness (CSPECH) is a state Medicaid program providing case managers for homeless residents. Also 35% of the new 10% surcharge on short-term rentals will go to affordable housing through the trust. 

Currently, the trust has about $300,000 to devote to projects and studies. The next meeting will be Thursday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the first-floor meeting room of Town Hall. The trust plans a public forum on the state of affordable housing in Amherst for the fall of 2019. Details will be announced in the future. This will be its fifth annual forum.

A separate, but related, organization, the Amherst Coalition for Affordable Housing is a citizens’ group, open to all interested residents. The Coalition will meet on Tuesday, July 23 at 6:30 in room 101 at the Bang’s Center.

Affordable Housing in Amherst

Amherst is unusual among Massachusetts municipalities in that, due to the colleges and university, roughly 50% of its population is between the ages of 15 and 24. The shortfall between the number of UMass students and the supply of on-campus housing has increased from 12,000 in 2000 to more than 16,000 in 2017. There was also a precipitous drop in housing growth from 1970 to 2009 with a modest increase of 663 units since 2010. The result is a housing shortage in Amherst and increasing housing costs for renters and owners. Renters especially face burdensome costs, with over 50% paying more than 30%of their incomes for housing.

Housing stress is especially hard on families, and many are driven out of Amherst to less-expensive neighboring towns. This is shown by the downward trend of enrollments in local schools. Residents Gazit Chaya Nkosi accompanied two women Tamisha and Stacie, who say they were forced to move from Amherst due to unavailability of affordable housing. They  came to inform the committee of the recent rent increase at Rolling Green, managed by Beacon Inc., to $2,000 for a two bedroom apartment. There was some disagreement as to what the original rent had been and Bockelman agreed to look into exactly how much the rent had been increased. The cost of a two-bedroom unit at Beacon’s new North Square development was reported at the meeting  to be $2,700. Forty-one out of Rolling Green’s 204 apartments are reserved for low-income people with section 8 vouchers, and 26 units at North Square are reserved for those earning less than 60 percent of average mean income. ($35,000 for a two person household and $45,000 for a four person household.) Current rents are out of the reach of many families, though students were thought to be more likely to put two or three people in a unit to make them more affordable. Nkosi worried that these rent increases could set off increases in rents at other complexes around Amherst. The women made impassioned pleas to preserve or create housing for families who make too much money to qualify for rent subsidies but not enough to afford $2,000 or more per month in rent. 

Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Town Planner Nate Malloy offered to contact Beacon to verify the rent increases and investigate the rationale behind them. Committee member Tom Kegelman reported that Beacon received $1.25 million through a town bond to preserve the 41 low-income units and was given generous tax incentives by the town for the affordable units at North Square. Kegkelman suggested  that perhaps the town did not bargain hard enough when these deals were made.

East Street School Project

In a continuing effort to increase affordable housing, a request for proposals for the East Street School site (a former school building now unoccupied) have been sent out and may be evaluated within the next year. Other town-owned land being evaluated for housing development includes a 13-acre parcel off Strong Street. 

Craig’s Doors

Hornik announced the resignation of Director Jade Lovett and two other staff members at Craig’s Doors shelter, effective August 1. Hornick noted that this could impact the availability of shelter for the most vulnerable population during the coming year. The shelter served over 170 individuals this past winter.

Northampton Road Affordable Housing Project

The 132 Northampton Road studio apartment project  proposed by Valley Community Development Corporation (Valley CDC) got a boost when, the Town Council authorized on July 1a $500,000 bond, to be funded with Community Preservation Act funds, without any dissenting votes. Shalini Bahl-Milne was absent and Dorothy Pam abstained. Valley CDC will now apply for state funds, most likely to the Division of Housing Procurement, to complete the funding for the project. 

Laura Baker, real estate procurer for Valley CDC, reflected on the process for approval of this project, which was recommended unanimously by the town’s Community Preservation Act committee (CPAC) and the Finance Committee and without an opposing vote on the Town Council.   She stated that Valley CDC has never been through as difficult a process as this one. Her office faced unusually hight demands for information and meetings from neighborhood residents and town councilors. In addition to legitimate requests for information, she said, Valley CDC was forced to respond to many false and misleading charges by those living in the vicinity of the project. 

The amount of detail requested was far beyond what is usually required at this early stage of a project. This placed a lot of stress on the small nonprofit organization. Baker stated that Valley CDC does not have the deep pockets and staff associated with large companies like Beacon,  to undertake protracted negotiations while paying the costs to maintain the purchased property. And the work is far from over, she said. Once it receives funding, Valley CDC must go through an elaborate permitting process, including state funding organizations and Amherst’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and PLanning Board. Continued resistance is expected from neighbors who oppose the project. The project garnered overwhelming support from the community as a whole, including from some residents of the neighborhood.