2018-12-00-CPC-rpt (Needs Assessment Report)

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The effort in Lexington "to maintain a range of affordability" is increasingly difficult. The current median sale price for a single family home in Lexington is approximately $1,269,701 affordable only to families making at least$307,000/year (250% of the area median income for a family of 5). Current monthly market-rate rents in Lexington average approximately $2,800 for a 2-bedroom apartment, affordable only to families making at least$112,000/year(115% of the area median income for a family of 3). The gradual replacement of smaller homes with larger, more expensive homes continues. Depending upon the size and the type of housing unit, the LHA's wait time for eligible households varies from one and a half to eight years. Escalation of the cost of more modest residences and properties, due in some measure to developers' willingness to pay high prices for teardown sites, has limited LexHAB's ability to secure and rehabilitate such residences for affordable housing. THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT The CPA authorizes acquisition, creation, preservation and support of"community housing" activities, as well as the rehabilitation and restoration of community housing that has been acquired with CPA funds. "Community housing" is "low and moderate income housing for individuals and families, including low or moderate income senior housing." "Low income housing" is defined as "housing for those persons and families whose annual income is less than 80 % of the area-wide median income," as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Moderate income housing" is "housing for those persons and families whose annual income is less than 100 % of the area-wide median income," again as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Low or moderate income senior housing" is "housing for those persons having reached the age of 60 or over who would qualify for low or moderate income housing." (All content from CPA Section 2.) As noted at the beginning of this Needs Assessment Report, since 2007 Town Meeting has approved $11,269,812 of CPA funding for community housing, including preservation projects at Greeley Village and Vynebrooke Village; the development of new affordable housing at Farmview (Lowell Street); the acquisition of 11 dwelling units by LexHAB; support for 16 living units at Douglas House;preservation of dwelling units at Pine Grove Village and funding of studies for future affordable housing needs. In 2017, CPA funds were combined with MassHousing funds to finance the conversion of the Pine Grove (Judges Way) cooperative to a condominium association, thereby preserving 16 units of low- and moderate-income housing. A portion of the CPA funding was used to convey the 5 low-income units to the Lexington Housing Authority. This project was highlighted in an article in Banker and Tradesman as on of the `success stories' of the state's efforts to preserve long- term affordability of multi-family housing facing expiring use restrictions. NEEDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 9