Lynn gets first say in housing plan

LYNN — As part of the statewide housing plan, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is holding 14 listening sessions in communities and regions across the Commonwealth. Lynn and the North Shore were first on the list.

Gina McLaughlin, senior advisor to EOHLC Secretary Ed Augustus, said that the sessions are part of a process to encourage stakeholder engagement in the state’s first five-year strategic housing plan in more than 40 years.

“This was all started through an executive order that (Gov. Maura Healey) filed, creating the Housing Advisory Council and directing that council to oversee the process of writing a housing plan with Secretary Augustus and the rest of the executive office,” McLaughlin said.

The listening session featured a brief overview of the state’s current housing environment before attendees were asked to break out into groups to discuss the top housing challenges and potential solutions.

Some insights that McLaughlin presented during the overview were that the U.S. is between 1.5 million to 5.5 million homes short and that one in three Americans are burdened by housing costs.

McLaughlin also pointed out state-focused housing challenges including housing scarcity, income inequality, geographic diversity, cost of construction, housing affordability, economic competitiveness, homelessness and emergency assistance, and socioeconomic and racial equity.

McLaughlin said the main housing challenges across the state will be discussed at all 14 sessions, but regional issues will change depending on the community the session is being held in.

For example, some housing challenges the North Shore is facing that were pointed out at the session are that one in four renter households in the region spend more than half their income on rent and utilities, a quarter of renters spend between 30% and 50% of their income on housing, and, in Lynn specifically, 31% of renters spend more than half of their income on rent.

The session was attended by roughly 100 people. After the brief informational session, the attendees were split into four groups, where they were each individually asked questions including “How are housing challenges impacting you, your community, and/or your organization?” “What has been working well in your community when it comes to housing?” and “What potential solutions/strategies would you like Massachusetts to explore in the statewide housing plan?”

“It was very productive… Everyone participated… I can only speak to my small group, but I think… showing the diversity of who’s there, I think it really supports something (Augustus) talks about a lot with this need for lifecycle housing,” McLaughlin said. “It was this idea that at every stage, access to units is really a driver of the problem… (Augustus) gave notice to this in his closing remarks, (and) the importance of being diverse in the types of housing that we create, because everybody needs something a little different depending on what stage you’re at.”

On the same day, a roundtable discussion was also held to discuss what the city needs from the state, and what the state can give to the city in terms of housing.

The discussion was held at the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development offices, with LHAND Director Charlie Gaeta, Mayor Jared Nicholson, and Augustus leading the conversation.

“We’re proud to be one of the fastest growing communities in the Commonwealth in terms of production and the population, and I think for us, we’ve taken the approach that I think is similar to the Healey-Driscoll (administration’s) approach. That is, we need housing of all types,” Nicholson said.

The projects discussed included the Armory, which is being renovated to include 52 units of mixed-income veterans’ housing; and the Hennessey House on Andrew Street, which will be converted into 51 studio apartments. Gaeta wrote in a letter to EOHLC Undersecretary Catherine Racer that the Hennessey House will have a service-rich resource center close to transportation and services for the city’s most vulnerable population.

In the letter, Gaeta requested $6 million in miscellaneous funding for the Hennessey House and around $8.5 million in miscellaneous funding for the Armory.

“We’re talking a lot of money, and I know there’s so many applications there now for various projects, but the other one (Hennessey House) is a much-needed supportive housing project. The vast majority of people would be under 30% of the AMI (area median income), and that’s why it doesn’t work, the so-called affordability, if we don’t have the subsidies,” Gaeta told Augustus during the discussion. “It’s a big ask, and I know everyone’s doing it now, but that’s probably the biggest, largest ask that we’re going with.”

Nicholson said the city has created an Affordable Housing Trust Fund for the first time and seeded it with ARPA funding.

Augustus said he did the exact same thing when he was city manager of Worcester, and gave his approval to Nicholson.

“I knew I liked you already,” he said.

Gaeta informed Augustus that LHAND received $1 million to create additional public housing, and received around $500,000 last year in capital funds from ARPA.

“These folks, they did a great job. We had a couple of units that were offline permanently, back on with those funds, and just other capital improvements that couldn’t have been done,” Gaeta said.

Augustus said that he would take some “homework” with him to make sure he is fully aware of everything the city is asking for.

“I say it all the time, two or three years ago we called the people working the supermarkets and the housekeeping staff at the hospitals and the nursing homes, we’d call them ‘heroes’” Augustus said. “How about making sure the heroes can live in the communities they’re (working in)?”

“Speaking of heroes, there are veterans. I can’t think of anything more noble than making sure there are veterans that serve their country and have a place to call home that’s safe and healthy and dignified,” he added.

13 more listening sessions will be held across the state, and Augustus said he plans on meeting with every housing authority in the state as well. LHAND was the 36th he met with out of the Commonwealth’s 230.

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