ITEM FILE PHOTO
Swampscott Town Hall.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — More affordable and senior housing are needed in Swampscott and a plan has been developed to jump start construction.
The Housing Production Plan was approved last week by the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the region’s planning agency, helped the town develop it. The state Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) will have final review of the proposal.
Town Planner Peter Kane said the purpose of the plan is to help the town identify what its housing needs are and what they will be in the future. Senior residents are projected to be the largest population increase over the next decade, he added. Swampscott’s stock of affordable housing is less than 4 percent, well under the threshold established by the state.
Having a housing production plan will allow for local review of a Chapter 40B housing project. The state’s controversial anti-snob zoning housing program allows developers to override local zoning bylaws to build affordable housing in municipalities where less than 10 percent of the homes are defined as affordable.
“If you want to be able to control those 40B projects, you have to have a housing production plan if you don’t have your 10 percent,” Kane said.
Swampscott apartments are expensive and most households are cost-burdened, according to Ralph Willmer, MAPC’s planner. Market rents range from $1,071 for a studio to $2,500 for a three-bedroom unit. While the median income is $92,258, about 41 percent of households spend more than 30 percent of its income on housing.
While the plan is pending state review, Kane said some of the goals and strategies have already been implemented. Two affordable housing projects were passed at Town Meeting last month. The former Machon Elementary School will be reused as an affordable senior housing project and a zoning change will allow for 28 affordable housing units at the former Swampscott Middle School on Greenwood Avenue.
With the zoning change, at least 15 percent of the units must be affordable. A second option would be to allow a builder to contribute to an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would be used to pay for affordable housing elsewhere in town.
Kane said the affordable housing trust fund was a strategy identified while the housing production plan was being developed. The fund was also approved at Town Meeting.
Another strategy outlined in the plan is potentially adopting the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to support affordable housing, Kane said. The CPA, which must be approved by voters, allows municipalities to create a fund for open space, historic preservation and affordable housing. The funds are raised through a surcharge of no more than three percent of the real estate tax bill.
The Machon and Greenwood Avenue projects will allow the town to show positive growth in affordable housing, Kane said. Towns are required to show the state on an annual basis how they are progressing towards the 10 percent affordable housing goal, he added.
“We won’t hit our 10 percent but we’ll at least start moving closer towards it,” he said.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
