2013-12-00-CPC-rpt (Needs Assessment Report)

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and two-family homes on scattered sites throughout the Town with the help of Minuteman Career & Technical High School students and the Rotary Club. In 2011, Town Meeting voted to approve the allocation of $450,000 in CPA funds to allow LexHAB to purchase and update an existing single family home, which would then be deed restricted to keep its sale price affordable. In 2012, an additional $450,000 was allocated for the same purpose. An application from LexHAB for an additional $450,000 is pending before the Community Preservation Commission for the 2013 Town Meeting. LexHAB has indicated that the FYI funds and possibly the remainder of some FY11 funds, may be used for the creation of housing units on Town lands, including the Busa and Leary parcels, portions of which have previously been designated by the Selectmen for community housing. NEEDS Both locally and statewide, the demand for housing affordable to low and moderate income residents exceeds supply. The lack of such housing leads to a loss of diversity at the local level and a loss of population at the state level as individuals and families abandon Massachusetts for more affordable areas of the country. The State has sought to foster the creation of affordable housing through M.G.L. c.40B, which mandates that each municipality have a minimum of 10% of its housing stock in the affordable category in order to avoid the potential imposition of housing developments that do not conform to local zoning bylaws. In Lexington there continue to be frequent "teardowns" of existing smaller homes, to be replaced by much larger and more costly homes. This pattern contributes to the very high average cost for single family homes in Town. While the Town of Lexington is currently in compliance with the 10% requirement of State law, as more market rate housing is constructed, and as price restrictions on some currently affordable housing units expire, the Town could easily drop below the 10% threshold, allowing a developer who allocates 25% of a rental project to affordable housing to avoid being subject to the density and siting restrictions of Lexington's Zoning Bylaw. This provides a practical incentive for the Town to continue to add affordable units to its inventory. It should also be noted that the 11% SHI figure which is presently quoted as Lexington's percentage of affordable housing comprises a combination of actual deed -restricted affordable units as well as market rate rental units. The inclusion of market rate units to determine a community's compliance with 40B was allowed by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to encourage communities to create additional rental units.. If this formula for determining compliance should change, Lexington's SHI figure would drop to 5.5% - an incentive to continue to fund affordable housing projects. It is important to recognize that an adequate stock of affordable community housing is an important Lexington goal independent of the desire to avoid overly dense or otherwise undesirable housing developments. Beginning as a farming community, Lexington has developed over its almost 300 years to become a suburban residential and commercial center with a population that is both ethnically and economically diverse. After World War II, it attracted a large number of residents involved in academic and scientific pursuits at nearby 0