Town considers options for preserving affordable rentals

The impending auction of two properties has focused attention on affordable rentals in town, or the lack thereof. The apartments at The Inn on Fairbank Street and Great Elms on Stow Road have for years provided the only affordable, family-friendly rentals in town. All other state-certified rentals in town are restricted to those over 55.

Until last month, the two antique homes were owned by a band of volunteers incorporated as Harvard Trust Non-Profit Properties, a group that was created—as a separate entity—by the Harvard Conservation Trust 25 years ago.

Now, concerned town officials are asking what, if anything, the town should do to preserve the nine rental units, which provide homes for both school-aged and elderly residents. The apartments, ranging in rent from $470 to $1,025 per month, count toward Harvard's current total of 5.4 percent affordable housing stock, against the state-mandated 10 percent. Ron Ricci, Selectmen's liaison to Harvard's Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, summarized the dilemma this way, as he addressed bank officials at a Monday meeting of the housing trust: "Some people want us to throw money at it. I hear other people say it's not going to work, burn the thing down."

The group that has owned and managed the homes is getting new attention.

"I want to give [Harvard Trust Non-Profit Properties] a lot of credit. They've done a public service for over 20 years," Rhonda Sprague, member of the Historical Commission, owner of Harvard Realty, and until the October repossession, property manager at The Inn, told the Press. "But there has never been enough money in reserve to maintain the property…And people have been screaming about it for 20 years."

Only recently has the problem begun to be aired publically.

At the 2010 Annual Town Meeting, the property owners spoke of dwindling resources in the face of major repairs. Last June, the owners asked Harvard's Municipal Affordable Housing Trust to sponsor a consultant to evaluate "all options" to sustain the aging properties.

At that time, three of the six housing trust members present spoke against funding and one spoke in favor. The group did not vote. Instead, Ricci volunteered to look into the matter. On Aug. 8, after receiving reaction from the League of Women Voters of Harvard and others, the housing trust voted to fund the consultant.

By late October, however, after two derailed attempts to engage an affordable housing expert, it was too late; seven months into default, lender North Middlesex Savings Bank repossessed the properties.

Both the engagement of a consultant and payment of some back property taxes might have forestalled the repossession in advance of a comprehensive rescue plan, the bank has told the Press.

"We are a community bank. The last thing we really want to do is foreclose on these properties," bank president William Marshall said.

At a Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, Ricci outlined a new action plan, created in response to the auctions, which are scheduled for Dec. 8 at The Inn and Dec. 15 at Great Elms.

"The next step will be a meeting at [the state Department of Community Housing and Development] to see what help they can give us to respect the interests of the bank and what the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust thinks is the town's interests to preserve the affordable units," he said.

Ricci said independent housing expert Bonnie Heudorfer, a Harvard resident and senior researcher at Northeastern University, would arrange the meeting. Ricci said the meeting would include the former owners, bank and town officials, and "a local individual who is a developer of affordable housing."

"So the meeting would be doing what the consultant would have done," said Selectmen Chair Marie Sobalvarro. "I'm hard pressed, looking at past performance, that they [the affordable housing trust] can marshal the help…when they couldn't do anything since June."

Selectman Tim Clark criticized the housing trust's level of engagement in the problem-solving process.

"It seems you've got all the work on your plate," he said to Ricci. "I personally am really unhappy with their performance."

Ricci challenged Clark to propose his own solutions.

"We are trying to make the best of a bad situation," he said.

Bank officials who attended Monday's housing trust meeting insisted that the auctions might be averted for one or both properties if the bank is offered the right terms.

"No one has presented us with a plan that is even remotely viable," said Walter Dwyer, senior vice president and loan officer at North Middlesex Savings Bank. "The clock is ticking. It needs to happen quickly."

Sprague re-focused the Monday discussion to what she said later was her main concern: the tenants.

"Whatever else we do, we must help the people who live there," she said.

Housing trust member Sherlie LaPierre said, "We have to look out for the taxpayers, too, and it's not a good investment for the town."

"It is not viable and never has been," added housing trust member Mort Miller.

The town has right of first refusal on Great Elms, but it is not clear whether the usual rules of first refusal apply in a foreclosure. Neither the housing trust nor Selectmen have discussed the possibility at open meetings.

For a compete timeline of affordable housing at The Inn and Great Elms, visit the Harvard Wiki on the Harvard Press website, www.harvardpress.com.