Board Looks To Find Balance Between Affordable, Attainable Projects

ORLEANS – As the focus on creating more attainable workforce housing grows, the affordable housing trust fund board wants to make sure its original mission isn’t being overlooked.

Voters at the annual town meeting earlier this month denied an article seeking an annual appropriation of $512,500 for the trust fund. Some who spoke at the meeting said the approval should be held off until the fund is authorized by the state to support housing for people who make more than 80 percent of the area median income, the threshold the state uses to define those eligible for affordable housing.

As the cost of housing continues to rise in Orleans and across the Cape, more residents and housing advocates are pushing the need for more housing options for “the missing middle,” those members of the local workforce who are struggling to find or afford housing but earn too much to qualify for affordable units.

Created in 2018, the affordable housing trust fund receives an annual appropriation of $275,000 through an override of Proposition 2½. Last year, town meeting voters approved petitioning the state legislature to appropriate an additional $225,000 to the fund to support projects for residents who earn up to 200 percent of the area median income.

An article could be prepared to put the annual appropriation back before voters at the special town meeting in October. Alan McClennen, who chairs the affordable housing trust fund board, said during the board’s May 21 meeting that the petition is undergoing a third reading in the state House of Representatives.

“At the request of the chairman of that committee two weeks ago, the [select board] made some amendments,” he said. “So I think that when the door opens from the committee on third reading to the house floor that bill will pass.”

But some on the trust fund board cautioned that the focus on creating more attainable housing shouldn’t come at the expense of the trust’s original mission of creating affordable housing for those who need it. Board member Katie Wibby said she was concerned by the conversation that unfolded about the trust’s appropriation during the May 13 town meeting.

“This trust was created to serve those at the really low income range,” she said. “My hesitation with expanding the trust’s powers from the beginning is that those folks at the really low income were going to be pushed aside when they had an opportunity to fund properties that would be in the higher income bracket. And I felt that that was exactly what I saw at town meeting.”

Michael Herman of the trust fund board also said he saw public sentiment at town meeting “sliding” in the direction of attainable housing.

“Which I’m for, however I do agree we were created for affordable housing,” he said. “That is what the committee is charged to do. That is what is in our charge even, and we can’t lose sight of that.”

Discussion then turned to how the board might allocate funding between attainable and affordable projects should the legislation successfully pass on Beacon Hill.

“Is there some data available that we can base that percentage on?” board member Henry Brehm asked. “Because I feel like we leave ourselves vulnerable if we don’t have it in writing.”

“I think it’s a conversation that never happened, but certainly needs to be had before we start allocating funds one way or another,” Wibby said. She also noted that even if the petition passes at the state level, the board is not required to allocate money to projects beyond 80 percent of AMI.

But board member Matt Cole said he saw the discussion about the fund at the annual town meeting as a “mandate” for the board and the town to do more to create attainable workforce housing. He asked for data laying out what rent limits are for people of various incomes in town, based on current market conditions. Having that information could help the board determine how best to allocate money from the trust, he said.

“That rent table would be helpful for us to understand, because I think you’re going to see that market rent is at a lower threshold than you think,” Cole said. “It will be very easy to narrow that range lower than 200 percent of AMI and really focus on a specific [group] of folks and get this thing moving forward.”

McClennen said right now, the board has approximately $2.8 million at its disposal, about half of which comes through the Community Preservation Act. But he said the money the fund has accrued to date through town meeting has been allocated specifically for affordable projects at or below the 80 percent threshold. The legality of using those funds to support attainable housing would need to be explored further, he said.

“We need to think very carefully about how we deal with this issue in the fall,” he added.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com