Harvard has had an affordable housing plan since 2004, accepted by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) in January 2005. The next update, mandated by DHCD, is due in January 2010. The previous plan was produced by the Harvard Housing Partnership; the update has been delegated to the Planning Board by the Board of Selectmen. The League of Women Voters and the Harvard Press are sponsoring a housing forum on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Volunteers Hall to help engage residents and to provide input to the update process.
The 2004 plan satisfied state requirements and called for 182 affordable units to be produced over 10 years. Only seven of a forecasted 84 housing units envisioned for the first five years have actually been produced.
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| Construction begins on the 40B project at 15 Littleton Road. (Photo by Worth Robbins) |
As of the 2004 report, Harvard had 54 affordable units out of 1,914 total year-round units, or 2.8 percent. As of September 2009, according to the DHCD Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI), Harvard has 61 affordable units out of 2,156 year-round units, or 2.8 percent. (The affordable, or SHI units, are affordable by, and restricted to, households earning not more than 80 percent of the area median income.) From DHCD’s perspective, Harvard’s numbers include Devens, and when the 2000 census was taken, there were 314 housing units at Devens, more than 200 of which were subsequently torn down. They will remain in Harvard’s total housing base until the 2010 census has been completed, inflating Harvard’s 10 percent target by at least 20 units.
The 2004 plan was based on a comprehensive needs assessment and a thorough analysis of existing conditions, demographic trends, and local and regional market forces. The plan described the mix of housing required to address identified needs and a timeframe for their production. It included preservation strategies as well as new production initiatives, and anticipated a significant role for both private and town-initiated development.
In the 2004 plan, market conditions were focused on recent demographic shifts:
- Significantly higher portion of school age children
- Higher proportion of 40- to 64-year-olds becoming “over-housed” as children leave home, with no options for down-sizing.
- Population of people age 65 and older growing at a faster rate than the state’s.
The needs assessment acknowledged Harvard’s relative affluence, while identifying that the 2000 census reported more than 21 percent of Harvard homeowners and 36 percent of renters paid more than 30 percent of their income for housing, with 4 percent of homeowners and nearly 26 percent of renters paying more than half their income for housing. About 14 percent of Harvard households were considered low income, and about 3 percent earned less than $15,000 per year, putting them at, or near, the federal poverty level. Besides income-based needs, about 86 households had members with one or more disabilities that presented mobility or self-care limitations. And a small number of residents, or former residents who had already moved away, had health and/or other issues requiring specialized housing services.
In summary, needs were identified for smaller, moderately priced ownership units and rentals in a range of price levels. Demand for both came from two groups: young people who work in the area but could not afford to buy, and older homeowners wishing to downsize but with no alternatives available locally, either for rent or purchase.
While complying with the mandated 10 percent affordable housing goal, the plan also structured goals to respond to other identified needs. A target of 160 to 170 affordable housing units over 10 years would do both―meet 40B requirements and fulfill needs.
The plan called for a mix between family and elderly (and/or special needs) units, and between rental and homeownership. In addition to units qualified for SHI, the plan called for an additional 10 percent of units in publicly supported developments to serve moderate- and middle-income households (those earning 80-150 percent of the area median income). This would do nothing to fulfill 40B requirements, but it would address additional identified needs.
The plan called for small-scale affordable developments distributed throughout the town, using town-owned land where possible. It emphasized desirability of conversion of existing single-family properties to multiple units, and addition of new units to existing developed sites, rather than focusing solely on new development. It encouraged higher density development where the Master Plan had indicated it is appropriate and sustainable, e.g., the Ayer Road commercial district.
Strategies defined in the plan included development of two town-owned parcels, collaboration with private developers under Chapter 40B (so-called “friendly 40B”), mixed-use and mixed-income development in the commercial district under recently adopted zoning changes, and phase II housing at Devens (176 new housing units allowed within the Devens Reuse Plan).
The plan called for production from 2005 through 2014 of 16 to 29 units per year, for a total of 182 units, 50 of which were projected for 2005 and 2006. Devens Phase II, which would have produced 18 of these affordable units plus 24 moderate/middle income units, has not been initiated, nor have mixed-use projects in the commercial district, forecast to produce 10 units in 2006. A project on town-owned land on Stow Road (gravel pit), forecast to produce 50 percent affordable (12 units) and 25 to 50 percent moderate income units, has not happened. Neither has a 15- to 24-unit senior housing project on town-owned land on Mass Ave.
Of the forecasted production, only the Trail Ridge project has produced new SHI units, bringing Harvard’s SHI inventory to 61, seven more than when the plan was produced, and leaving Harvard no closer to the required 10 percent than in 2004. Projects that were not contemplated by the plan are in various stages, including a 12-unit project now under construction on Littleton Road that will produce three affordable units, and a 42-unit senior affordable housing rental project on Ayer Road that, if completed, may add all 42 units to Harvard’s SHI.
Fifth in a series of articles reviewing Harvard plans. The first three articles covered the Master Plan, the last two have covered the Affordable Housing Plan. Next up will be the Open Space and Recreation Plan. The full text of all plans reviewed is available at www.harvardpress.com, About Harvard, Harvard Wiki, Harvard by Design.