Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-30-AHTBT-min Page 1 of 4 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of August 30, 2023 10:00 am Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in the Parker room, Town Office Building Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; Mark Sandeen, William Erickson, Tiffany Payne, Linda Prosnitz Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant Other attendees: Elizabeth Rust, RHSO; Bob Pressman, Margaret Heitz, Charles Hornig Ms. Tung conducted a roll call to ensure all the members of the AHT Board and members of staff present could hear and be heard. Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 10:01 am. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia for future on-demand viewing. 1. Approval of August 9 meeting minutes The AHT Board reviewed the draft minutes of the meeting held on 8/9/23. The minutes were approved as amended. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0, by a roll call vote (Erickson – yes, Tung – yes, Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes, Prosnitz – yes). 2. Chair, Select Board liaison, Committee liaison and RHSO/staff report This topic will be reviewed the next time. 3. The Resale Fees Warrant Article Ms. Kowalski and Ms. Rust explained the Resale fees. The Resale fees is for affordable housing ownership units, and is included in the deed rider. It’s capped at 2% of the sales price. There is a total of 26 Affordable housing ownership units in Lexington, and there were two resales in the last ten years. Presently, the Resale fees go to the Town general fund. The RHSO administers the resales as part of its annual contract with the Town, and the amount of projected incre ase in ownership units is expected to be very small. Ms. Rust advised that the Trustees could pursue having the resale fees directed to the Affordable Housing Trust, as it is a revenue from affordable housing in the Town. The members assessed and discussed the resale fees, and the rental assistance monitoring fees. Ms. Tung made a motion that the Trust requests both the resale fees from Affordable Housing ownership units and Rental assistance monitoring fees be directed to the Affordable Housing Trust, and this be a warrant article for Fall Town Meeting. Mr. Sandeen seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0, by a roll call vote (Erickson – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Tung – yes, Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes). Page 2 of 4 4. FY25 CPC application The Rental Assistance program discussion continued from the last meeting. There are different rental assistance programs that could help address rent arrears, and utility arrears. Ms. Rust shared that there are 575 low income, cost burdened renters, under 80% of AMI in Lexington based on 2019 data. They could be the potential target population or a subset from that number for the rental assistance. Once the program is operational, the Trust could observe who’s applying, how the funds are being utilized, and the requirements can be fine-tuned in the next round based on the needs of the community, to pick those who need assistance and weren’t selected in the prior round for eligibility. Ms. Tung requested Ms. Payne, Ms. Prosnitz and Ms. Rust form a working group to bring to the Trust an acceptable program. They agreed. Mr. Sandeen expressed his concern over how to provide assistance in a sustainable way. There were situations where the tenants pay more for utilities than for rent. He felt the Trust should do something to address the underlying reason that their utility rates are higher than their rent. He suggested reviewing options such as capital investment in the housing stock, upgrade the HVAC and their building envelopes, and solar installation on the roof. The members felt there should be different strategies to address the needs of future residents, and for current residents. Mr. Pressman shared that the Sustainability Committee is working with LexHAB on sustainability grants. There are several LexHAB units with very low rents. LexHAB is seeking CPA support because the rents from the tenants are not sufficient to keep up the units. Ms. Rust explained about Health and Safety program. It’s a small grant program . It is awarded based on whether the houses are under the median assessed value, and they submit with two estimates for health and safety, some of it could be HVAC, roof, front stairs, tree work. The idea of the program is to preserve homes in town. The program is not CPA eligib le. The grant agreements are to be worked out with Town counsel. Ms. Tung suggested forming a working group to review sustainability and utility issues, and to propose solutions to mitigate them. Ms. Rust, with Mr. Erickson and Ms. Payne will reach out to Maggie Peard, Chief Sustainability Officer and Cindy Arens, Chair of Sustainable Lexington for their inputs. Ms. Kowalski agreed to participate in these discussions as her schedule allows. The group will provide an update at the next meeting. Mr. Erickson felt Sustainability and Rental Assistance should be addressed as two separate topics, and Sustainability be its own agenda item. Ms. Tung then reviewed that at the last meeting, there was general support for the Multi-family buy downs concept, and that the Trust didn’t want to include a specific amount . The buy downs are for both SRD and MBTA zoning. Mr. Erickson commented that it was important for the Trust to say “we have this program”, whether it’s the buy-downs or rental assistance, it’s important that we can state “here are the three things we do”. Mr. Sandeen then described a meeting that Ms. Kowalski had scheduled so that Mr. Sandeen and Select Board member Jill Hai could hear, and provide feedback to the consultant working on the Housing Feasibility study of the three-town owned sites. It was brought to the attention of the full Select Board, and the direction was to get stakeholder reaction first, and then present the preliminary report to the full Select Board in October. Mr. Sandeen commented he was very excited about the economics and the implications for affordable housing in Lexington. Ms. Tung asked Ms. Kowalski if there was information needed to develop the buy down program, and if she could draft the program for the Trust and potential builders on the buy down program. Page 3 of 4 The Trustees will send their comments on the August 8 buy down memo in a week to Ms. Kowalski. Ms. Kowalski will revise the memo as required. The Trustees reviewed Ms. Prosnitz’s revised presentation on Pre-funding. She agreed to update the presentation based on the feedback received at the meeting and share it with Ms. Kowalski. Ms. Prosnitz requested members to share if there are any additional comments. The members reviewed Mr. Erickson’s updated concepts for the Lowell Street property. He showed options for 48 potential units, all apartment and a hybrid option with a mix of apartment and town house type structures. The apartment style with 3 BR, 2 BR and 1 BR, and hybrid model with 1 BR, 2 BR, 3 BR apartments and 3BR townhouses. Mr. Erickson was in favor of the hybrid scheme as it offered more housing, under friendly 40B. There was option for variety of parking, a playground area with reinforcement for fire-truck turnaround. Mr. Erickson would like to have a discussion with the Select Board and housing stakeholders for input and buy-in, to move ahead with the proposal. Ms. Tung requested for the estimates from the consultants. Ms. Ramachandran shared that the Wetland delineation estimate was $2500. For survey, plot plan or existing conditions plan $10,000 - $14,000. Ms. Kowalski added that environmental assessment would be between $3000 to $5000. Ms. Prosnitz reported on a positive Housing Partnership Board (HPB) meeting she and Ms. Tung had. The HPB were supportive of the Lowell/North St idea. Ms. Tung updated that HPB will schedule a special Board meeting in September for them to review the Lowell/North St presentation followed by which they will get a letter of support from them. The Trust plan to have two on two meetings with the Select Board, the week of September 11. They plan to attend and be on the agenda for the September 18 Select Board meeting. In the meeting, they will be asking for the Select Board’s support of the Trust’s pre-funding requests to the CPC as well as their support for Lowell/North St proposal. Ms. Tung mentioned that Ms. Kowalski has agreed to write up a memo addressing any concerns that Select Board members may have that they can proactively address. Ms. Tung wanted to know if they can have a timeline with the sequence of steps that need to take place. Ms. Tung stated that she is in favor of spending $20,000 - $25,000 of Trust funds to progress the Lowell/North St housing initiative towards the preliminary work for wetland del ineation, survey and assessments. Ms. Tung shared that there is a CHAPA event on 10/5/23 from 10 – 12 via zoom and encouraged the Trustees to participate. 5. Potential town owned sites This topic will be reviewed the next time. 6. New Business This topic will be reviewed the next time. 7. Confirm September meeting dates, Set regular meeting time Next meeting date to be confirmed post meeting adjournment. 8. Adjourn Adjourned by roll call vote 12:08pm (Erickson – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Tung – yes, Sandeen – yes, Payne – yes). Page 4 of 4 List of documents reviewed 1. Pre-Funding Affordable Housing Trust 2. Lowell and North Presentation a. All Townhouse scheme b. Hybrid Townhouse and Apartments c. All Apartment scheme