By Carol Britton Meyer

The Affordable Housing Committee’s special projects subcommittee met Tuesday night to discuss whether to recommend that full board request Community Preservation Act funding before next Monday’s deadline, and ultimately decided to focus on building partnerships and educating the public before submitting an application.

The first step in the Community Preservation Committee’s FY25 application process requires a submission by September 30. Eligible requests in the community-housing category include funds to acquire, create, preserve, and support affordable housing.

Subcommittee members Cynthia Koebert (who also is the AHC chair), Bob Pezzini, and Bob Pahl shared ideas for potential requests – ranging from a market study of Hull’s rental inventory to identifying tax credit opportunities for improving the housing stock and increasing Hull’s affordable housing count to a loan or grant program to assist single-family owner-occupants create accessible dwelling units.

Subcommittee members also discussed creating an Affordable Housing Trust Fund and developing partnerships with groups such as Habitat for Humanity to create more publicly supported affordable housing in town, which exists primarily in the units managed by the housing authority on Atlantic Avenue and on C and D Streets.

“These partnerships are very important,” Koebert said.

Creating a trust fund to manage the town’s community preservation affordable housing money would require town meeting approval.

Following an hour-long discussion, the subcommittee decided to recommend the AHC continue to focus on town-owned parcels, affordable housing education, and expanding its capacity through partnerships and the creation of a municipal affordable housing trust fund prior to requesting Community Preservation Act funding.

Building expertise, partnerships, and support

Members of the subcommittee who have reviewed the statewide Community Preservation Coalition’s searchable database of community preservation projects noted the importance of building sufficient expertise, partnerships, and support prior to taking on such initiatives. AHC members also observed that many of the CPA applicants were municipal affordable housing trust funds. Visit www.communitypreservation.org for more information.

After discussing these possibilities, the conversation turned to focusing on creating a community engagement process to support development of affordable housing on town-owned land and to educate the public about what affordable housing is and is not.

With regard to education, there is an overall misunderstanding in the community about the meaning of affordable housing, Pahl said.

Koebert noted that the Citizens Housing and Planning Association awards municipal engagement initiative grants. The AHC applied unsuccessfully before due to a lack of funding, but the process may be reopening.

The underlying goal is to create more deed-restricted affordable units that would count toward the state’s 10 percent affordable housing threshold. Hull is currently at about 1.5%, which Koebert said she considers to be “close to zero.”

Not reaching or exceeding that threshold makes such communities vulnerable to comprehensive permits (more commonly known as Chapter 40B projects), which allow developers to circumvent most local regulations in exchange for an affordable housing component.

Town-owned parcels considered

Last March, three vacant town-owned parcels were identified as potentially suitable for the development of affordable housing by two consultants in a grant-funded town land feasibility study. Only parcels larger than one-half acre were considered.

The lot next to St. Nicholas Church on Spring Street (formerly the Hull Village School) and the parking lot at XYZ Streets are considered more suitable than a parcel of land on Gosnold Street consisting of several lots that could be combined. The Gosnold property is wooded and would require removal of a large number of trees, while the other parcels are flat and already cleared, select board member Irwin Nesoff, the board’s liaison to the AHC, told The Hull Times at that time.

Working with the AHC, South Shore Habitat for Humanity earlier identified two smaller town-owned parcels of less than one-half acre – at the corner of N Street and Nantasket Avenue and on F Street near Cadish Avenue. No decisions have been made.

The AHC’s intent, Koebert said, is to engage the community from the beginning of the process before the town issues a request for proposals, to explain the meaning of affordable housing and for citizens to share what they envision affordable housing to be and their ideas about affordable housing.

‘We have to find ways to be more successful’

Koebert said she knows enough about affordable housing “to get frustrated that it takes so long and it’s so complicated and complex. We have to find ways to be more successful.”

She also expressed concern about communication issues between the AHC and managers of the Hull Housing Authority properties, who are not based in town. Jim Richman is the authority’s liaison to the AHC.

Resident Christopher Sweeney said he is concerned about how long it is taking to develop affordable housing.

“We have plenty of town-owned property,” he said. “All we have to do is [collaborate] with Habitat for Humanity [or another organization], and they can build it.”

At its October 8 meeting, the AHC will host guests from neighboring towns that have affordable housing trust funds to learn more about their experiences.

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