Easthampton's Master Plan, written in 2008, says the city is "land poor."
EASTHAMPTON – The city needs to create 280 more units of affordable housing to become exempt from the state’s “anti-snob law.”
Chapter 40B states that if a city or town’s housing stock is not at least 10 percent affordable, developers of affordable housing can skirt local zoning codes and get projects approved more easily. Those developments have to be at least 20 percent affordable for renters or 25 percent for homeowners.
“Affordable” means anyone earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, or AMI, could shoulder the housing costs, according to state guidelines. The AMI for Hampshire County in 2010 was $67,400, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Easthampton has 7,567 units of housing, 476 of which are affordable, totaling 6.3 percent when rounded up, according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which relied on 2010 census data. That would mean 280 more units are needed.
The DHCD counts what it calls Subsidized Housing Inventory not by the actual number of affordable units, but by how many total units are in a development that is at least 25 percent affordable to people earning less than 80 percent of AMI or 20 percent affordable for those earning less than 50 percent of AMI.
A spokesperson for the DHCD said the Easthampton figures very closely reflect the real total.
Easthampton city planner Stuart Beckley said that if the 37-unit Parsons Village is approved and built in New City, along with a 50-unit project in the former Dye Works building on Cottage Street, it would boost the percentage to 7.44. Neither is a 40B.
View full sizeAn aerial view of the lot at 69 Parsons St. taken from Valley CDC's special permit application.In that case, the city would still need 194 more units. The homeownership portion of Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow is under construction and would drop that total by nine and bring the percentage to 7.56.
There are four 40B projects in Easthampton: Sullivan Housing, College Highway Apartments, Treehouse and Mountainview Condominiums.
“Based on the last two (developments, a 40B project is) viewed as an opportunity as long as it’s designed correctly,” said Beckley, referring to Treehouse and Mountainview. He said the designs of Sullivan and College Highway are not ideal, but “we don’t have a problem with them.”
Affordable housing units don’t have to be affordable forever unless a permanent restriction is in place. If not, when the restriction expires and they revert to market-rate prices, the total affordable percentage goes down and more is needed to stay above the threshold, potentially increasing density and decreasing the amount of available land.
Easthampton’s Master Plan, written in 2008, says the city is “land poor.”
“The affordability restriction expires on 9 units in 2011, on 22 units in 2012, on 12 units in 2014, on 40 units in 2029, on 23 units in 2030 and on 40 units in 2031,” it reads. “It will be important for Easthampton to work with the various property owners to ensure that these units remain affordable so the city is not continuously adding new units to simply replace existing affordable units for no net gain.”
The long-term plan, Beckley said, is to preserve and reuse past projects and use small parcels of land for future affordable housing. The City Council has shot down an inclusionary zoning bylaw, which would require subdivision developers to incorporate affordable units, but Beckley said it could be brought up again.
The Master Plan recommended the bylaw as a Level Two housing priority.
The Community Development Strategy shows housing production goals and says, “The City has begun to work with developers, under Chapter 40B and otherwise, to incorporate affordable units in all developments, while making sure housing projects match neighborhood character.”