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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-02-19-AHTBT-min.pdf Page 1 of 3 Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of February 19, 2026, 12:30 pm Hybrid meeting on Zoom and in-person in the Select Board Meeting Room, Town Office Building Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; Tiffany Payne, Linda Prosnitz, William Erickson Absent: Mark Sandeen Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development. Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 12:39 pm. 1. Approve Meeting Minutes Ms. Tung requested a motion to approve the 1/22/26 AHT meeting minutes. Ms. Payne moved. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 3-0-1, by a roll call vote (Erickson – yes, Payne – yes, Tung – yes, Prosnitz – abstained). Meeting minutes approved. 2. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report Ms. Payne shared updates from the Lexington Housing Authority’s 2/12/26 meeting. There were updates regarding the Massachusetts Avenue siding project and a $100,000 grant from the State for the Greeley Village project work. The language access piece in the census data has been updated to reflect the current requirements. EOHLC has granted funding for LHA to share human resources services with Arlington Housing Authority. The contract negotiations for the Countryside Village repositioning project is in process with federal funding and LHA may come to the AHT for more funding. Ms. Payne shared a public comment regarding resident displacement during construction and stressed the need to create a resident board to address such concerns. Ms. Kowalski shared that the developers at 3,4,5 Militia Drive have applied for a building permit. Ms. Tung shared that MAPC will be writing a white paper on three housing developments - one of which is the Lowell Street development. Ms. Tung reminded the Trustees of the upcoming MHP series on strengthening local boards and commissions to support affordable housing. Ms. Tung also reminded the members about the CHAPA report on housing choice vouchers. 3. LexHAB Grant Application Mr. Erickson recused himself from this discussion. LexHAB Board members Tara Mizrahi, Russ Tanner, Eric Brown and Lester Savage joined the meeting. Ms. Mizrahi explained that LexHAB was requesting financial support for the construction of three Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and the complete renovation of a property that had been gifted to LexHAB. Ms. Mizrahi stated that the construction of the ADUs is an excellent opportunity to leverage existing LexHAB owned property and to create additional units for very low-income families. Ms. Mizrahi shared the details of the application they will be submitting to EOHLC including the eight housing vouchers they are requesting. Mr. Tanner shared details of the preliminary plans and designs of the ADUs and the discussions with the contractors. He stated that preliminary pricing estimates were received from builders and modular contractors. Mr. Tanner shared the details of Backyard ADU’s protypes and floor plans. Mr. Tanner added that they will be doing a little bit of add-ons and site work to address storm water drainage and utilities. He hoped that between now and June, they will be able to Page 2 of 3 advance the plans with Backyard ADU. LexHAB is requesting $1,000,000 in funding from the AHT and LexHAB is applying to the state for $1,400,000. Ms. Tung asked why they limited the size of the ADUs to 900 square feet. Mr. Savage explained that to be non-owner occupied, they must restrict the size to 900 square feet to comply with the State regulations. Mr. Tanner added that 900 square feet works well for a decent two -bedroom freestanding apartment and they would explore options for more square footage if the regulations changed. Ms. Payne wanted to know if the choice of two bedroom ADUs was due to the size permitted by the regulations or based on the needs of the current LexHAB waitlist for housing. Ms. Mizrahi shared that the current wait list is longer for one-bedroom units. Ms. Prosnitz wanted to know if washer and dryers were included in the units and Mr. Tanner responded that there was space for washer and dryers, but the machines would not be provided. There were questions from the Trustees regarding sustainability, project-based vouchers, the operating proforma, real estate taxes, operating subsidies, affordability restrictions, local preference, development cost and disruption to current and future tenants. Ms. Tung asked why the Wood Street property needs to be renovated and Mr. Savage shared that the renovations were necessary in order for the property to be habitable . Melinda Walker wanted clarifications on the discussion of local preference and asked if there were no applicants for the unit set aside for local preference, will they be going to the next person on the waiting list. Ms. Mizrahi confirmed the process and that local preference was only at the initial lease-up of the unit. Ms. Walker also wanted to know if the renovation of the existing Wood Street home would be happening simultaneously as the ADU construction. Ms. Mizrahi responded that they would work with the contractors to time it in such a way to create the least impact. Mr. Savage added that most of the work on the existing property is interior work and the new ADU would be mostly exterior and there would not be much interaction. Bob Pressman asked how many bedrooms will be in the Wood Street property. Ms. Mizrahi responded that there will be two bedrooms each in the ADU and the house. Mr. Pressman also asked about the current status of LexHAB’s portfolio. Mr. Tanner responded that the funding requests to the AHT and State would be adequate to renovate the Wood Street property. Mr. Pressman also shared the permissible local preference criteria. Mr. Pressman added that in the context of the Town Counsel interpreting permissible LexHAB rehab proposals in the past, he thought the Town Counsel said that washer and dryer could be included and asked LexHAB to find out if that would be the case in terms of a new structure as well. 4. Rental Assistance Program Ms. Kowalski said that she is checking with the finance department if the cost of the program can be funded upfront with certain terms and conditions. Alisa Gardner- Todreas, Chief Operating Officer of Metro West Collaborative Development (MWCD) joined the meeting to share MWCD’s response to the RFQ on AHT’s potential rental assistance program and to answer any questions that the Trustees had. Ms. Payne asked how MWCD would handle applicants who speak languages other than English and Spanish. Ms. Todreas responded saying that they use a translation service called Boostlingo to help applicants who speak languages other than English and Spanish. Ms. Prosnitz suggested that it would be helpful to have the program announcement translated into several languages so that people would know about the program and how to access an application. Ms. Todreas responded that they typically translate the advertising flyers into multiple languages. Page 3 of 3 Ms. Tung thanked Ms. Todreas for her guidance in the whole process . Ms. Todreas agreed with the AHT’s motivation to keep application documentation simple and added that based on AHT’s rent limits, most of the applicants would currently be living in income-restricted units and would already be income qualified. Ms. Payne wanted to know how MWCD would handle a non-compliant landlord during the period of assistance. Ms. Todreas responded that the tenant would not be able to participate and efforts would need to be taken to have the landlord to comply with the requirements. Ms. Todreas shared the timeline of the entire process. Mr. Erickson wanted clarification on whether post program evaluation is included in the proposal. Ms. Todreas responded that the post program information could be captured and reported at the end of the six-month trial period. Ms. Prosnitz wanted to know the methods employed by MWCD to get additional or missing information from applicants and the time that would be given to each applicant so that they can be included in the lottery. Ms. Todreas said that she proposed a two-step process with a self- certification of the income limits and proof of residency and then reaching out to the eligible applicants to submit additional documentation. Ms. Todreas wanted to know details about the maximum award amount per month considered by the AHT and the number of people the AHT was hoping to assist. Ms. Prosnitz responded that there is a minimum payment but not a maximum. Based on a concern raised by Ms. Payne, Ms. Todreas stated that if there are insufficient applicants, the AHT can turn the process into a rolling admissions program. Ms. Prosnitz and Mr. Erickson emphasized that the post program survey is valuable in determining the program’s success and discussed the format of questions to be used in the survey to understand the process. Bob Pressman recommended to include a survey question about how having the assistance affected the household in a positive way. Ms. Tung moved that if Metro West Collaborative Development’s additional cost for the post survey is $1,000 or less, the AHT would recommend the engagement of MWCD for its pilot rental assistance program. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor unanimously 4- 0 by a roll call vote (Erickson – yes, Payne – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Tung– yes). 5. Other items that could not have been anticipated Mr. Erickson wanted to know if the legal fees for the Lowell Street appeal would be assigned to the Affordable Housing Trust. Ms. Tung stated that this has not been mentioned to her but that generally, CPA funds cannot be used to pay typical municipal expenses. Adjourn Ms. Prosnitz moved to adjourn the Affordable Housing Trust Meeting. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor unanimously by a roll call vote 4-0 (Erickson – yes, Payne – yes, Prosnitz-yes, Tung - yes.). The meeting adjourned at 3:09 pm. List of documents reviewed 1. LexHAB presentation for grant application.