Panel discussion focuses on regional strategies for increasing housing

A wide-ranging discussion with multiple towns represented at Tuesday’s regional housing summit addressed the need for additional housing in Greater New Bedford.

Tuesday's "Housing for All - A Symposium Focused on Regional Strategies" at the New Bedford Whaling Museum focused on efforts to make housing affordable for residents of New Bedford and surrounding towns.

New Bedford Economic Development Council President Anthony Sapienza said while the Regeneration Project was formed to focus on New Bedford, the turnout from the surrounding towns shows that the city and its neighbors should work together.

“I think that we understand now that there’s a role we can play to help in this regional structure as well,” he said. “With all of us, every one of us thinking about in that way, I think it’s a really valuable way that we can think about how we can go forward.”

Sapienza said the list of state funding sources and programs for supporting housing development that were presented by MassINC Senior Research Associate Elise Rapoza was eye-opening.

Facing the challenges ahead

According to the Regeneration Project’s housing market analysis, Greater New Bedford has an immediate need for an additional 4,100 housing units, including 4,000 units in the city due to its high concentration of rental housing and 400 units in the suburbs.

MassINC Research Director Ben Forman said housing production needs to happen to get the market into equilibrium so that prices don’t keep rising indefinitely, resulting in serious implications for economic growth and the personal impacts.

“Financial stress from housing in particular really weighs on people’s minds,” he said. “It makes it difficult for them to get a good night’s sleep, which makes it harder for them to be creative. It has intergenerational effects as well.”

Forman said this also affects local businesses due to a lack of discretionary spending.

Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Edward Augustus said communities across the state are struggling to retain their workforce because of the high cost of housing, and his office will focus on building housing for all incomes.

“That strategy includes not just building more affordable housing but using market rate housing as a tool to lift up our Gateway Cities,” he said.

Mayor Jon Mitchell said the displacement of residents brings pressure on communities to ensure that its residents will be able to maintain roofs over their heads and avoid homelessness while also avoiding pushing out the possibility of commercial development.

“Our job is to create as stable of a market as predictable of a market as possible, and we speak in these terms because it is the market that dictates policy,” he said.

Focusing on future development

A panel discussion focused on sustainable and equitable housing strategies with representatives from New Bedford and Dartmouth, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, the founder of E3 Development and Bristol County Savings Bank.

New Bedford Director of Housing and Community Development Josh Amaral said there are many different theories behind New Bedford’s housing predicament, but following the pandemic, it was as if everyone was hitting the housing market at the same time.

He said the city will release information about a first-time homebuyer’s program in the near future so that New Bedford residents can be competitive when it comes to buying homes to strengthen city neighborhoods and presumably free up rental units.

He said there’s also support for emerging developers who are more diverse and more locally connected and are establishing themselves by pursuing projects in an economical way out of passion and interest in a project rather than purely as an investment strategy.

Training workers for the building trades is also a focus.

Tim Chaves, head of commercial banking at Bristol County Savings Bank, said getting residential applications to the next level in terms of the bidding process for a house has been challenging even though they have been preapproved.

“We have allocated a $500,000 fund just for downpayment assistance to make sure we are evolving with the times because in terms of the drastic rise in interest rates, purchasing power has been cut in half,” he said.

Eliza Datta, founder of E3 Development and development partner on the 117 Union St. Project, said flexible zoning is really important. She said the ability to do more with smaller units makes for a more efficient building without the expense of a parking requirement.

“On the financing front, the local commitment of funds is really, really important for leveraging funds, including funds from the state, so whenever a municipality can find ways to support housing production, I find that it helps to leverage and multiplies the effect significantly,” she said.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Panel discussion focuses on regional strategies for increasing housing