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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2016 ATM The Lexington Housing Partnership (LHP) is a 14- member board of Town residents appointed by the Board of Selectmen to 3 -year terms. The LHP was instrumental in Lexington's adoption of the CPA in 2006, as housing is one of the project categories that may be financed with funding under that Act. The LHP's primary mission is to keep Lexington residents informed of the Town's housing needs and to plan and advocate for the preservation and creation of affordable housing units on an ongoing basis. The Lexington Housing Authority (LHA) was created under Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 121B, Section 3, passed by the State legislature in 1969. Under the statute, municipal housing authorities manage State- and Federally- subsidized housing units and administer Federal housing vouchers to individuals and households who qualify. Four members of the LHA are elected, and a fifth is appointed by the Governor. As of May of this year, the LHA will own or manage 244 units, which include one - bedroom units for elderly or disabled residents at Countryside Village, Greeley Village, and Vynebrooke Village, as well as 18 two -to- four - bedroom units scattered throughout the Town. The LHA also administers 78 housing vouchers, which are used by households to pay private landlords. Depending on the size and type of housing unit, the LHA's wait time for eligible households varies from 11/2 to 8 years. The Lexington Housing Assistance Board (LexHAB) is unique to Lexington. It was founded in 1983 by a group of citizens concerned about the need for affordable and transitional housing for Lexington residents experiencing economic difficulties. With initial contributions from the developers of the Brookhaven Life -Care Living Facility and the Potter Pond condominium, LexHAB acquired attached and detached rental - housing units, which now total 64. They are administered by the volunteer 7- member Board, which uses rents to maintain and improve the units as needed. Since Lexington's adoption of the CPA in 2006, Town Meeting has approved annual allocations of CPA funds to LexHAB for the acquisition of additional units and, recently, for the construction of units on Town land. LexHAB also maintains a reserve fund to be used to purchase units on which the deed restrictions maintaining their affordability may expire. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B, passed in 1969, is the State statute that requires each municipality in the Commonwealth to have 10% of its housing "affordable" as defined by the statute and its regulations. An affordable unit is defined as one that could be purchased or rented by a household receiving income of up to 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), assuming that the household spends no more than 30% of that income on housing. AMI for the Greater Boston Area is adjusted annually, and varies according to household size. To be maintained as affordable, a unit must be subject to a long -term, preferably perpetual, deed restriction limiting its sale price to the affordable level as determined at the time of sale. To encourage the creation of more rental units, the statute also provides that if a rental - housing development deed - restricts 25% of its units, all of the rental units will count as part of the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI), even though 75% of them are actually priced at market rate. To avoid unlawful discrimination, the State requires affordable units coming available to be assigned by a lottery among applicants whose eligibility has been established. Lexington's SHI. The housing units administered by the LHA and those LexHAB units which have been assigned under the State's lottery procedure all count on Lexington's SHI. In 2007, the completion of the rental complex Avalon at Lexington Hills gave the Town 387 additional rental units, all of which count on the Town's SHI, although only 25% of them are deed - restricted. (Prior to including these units, 7.3% of Lexington's housing was on the SHI.) This put Lexington's affordable housing (per the statutory definition) at 11.2 %, making Lexington one of only 50 of the 351 Massachusetts municipalities that have met the statutory 10% requirement. (However, it should be noted that the actual percentage of housing units that are subject to deed restrictions maintaining them as affordable is closer to 5 %.) If the Town's SHI falls below 10% of Town -wide housing units, the statute provides that private developers who deed - restrict 25% of units in their projects may not be subject to the density restrictions of Lexington's zoning bylaw, allowing them to build larger and more densely sited subdivisions than Lexington would otherwise allow. Prior to reaching 10 %, Lexington saw such a "40B project" constructed on Lowell Street. 30