LYNN — How much of King’s Lynne Apartments will remain affordable is in question as the property’s 40-year mortgage subsidy is set to expire this month, causing concern among residents, who fear their rents will increase.
Established in 1974, King’s Lynne has long been considered a model for mixed-income housing. That balance of 40 percent low-income units, 30 percent moderate-income units and 30 percent market rate units has been cited as what makes the 441-unit West Lynn housing community attractive to some residents.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has approved the property owner, Corcoran Jennison Companies’ request to preserve the 176 low-income (Section 8) units, according to a correspondence obtained by The Item. But legal experts are concerned the 132 existing moderate-income units will gradually be converted to market-rate apartments when current residents move out.
“At the end of this month, the state subsidized 40-year mortgage that was retaining those rent restrictions is going to mature (and) rent restrictions will come to an end,” said Ann Jochnick, an attorney with Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, which provides statewide advocacy for low-income people and communities.
“It’s absolutely possible to preserve the affordability of these units and there’s no reason to lose them. It would be a huge loss for Lynn going forward and for the surrounding communities to lose (132) units of affordable housing that’s so desperately needed by people who are being displaced.”
Maria Torres, 63, a six-year resident of King’s Lynne, said she could be directly affected by the loss of moderate-income units. She currently lives in a market-rate apartment, but her daughter is pregnant and planning to move out, which means she would need to apply for a subsidy to live in a moderate-income unit to compensate for the loss of a second income.
“People like me, when there comes a time when I can’t afford the rent, I can move into a moderate,” said Torres. “I’m concerned that won’t be an option when my daughter moves out (in September).”
Torres has seen her rent rise from $1,500 to $2,700 since she moved in, but she wants to remain at King’s Lynne. She has custody of her grandson, who attends the city’s schools and her daughter attends North Shore Community College.
“If I move out of King’s Lynne, I don’t think I’d be able to afford the rent in Lynn,” said Torres. “I would be forced to basically move out of state or a place where the rent is much cheaper, which will disrupt school for both of my kids.”
Raymonde (Raye) Weiss, 87, moved into a moderate-income unit at King’s Lynne with her husband in 1977. Weiss, now widowed, said she would be protected as a current resident, but she’s concerned for her large network of neighbors in the apartment complex, who help her by providing rides to grocery stores and doctors’ appointments.
Weiss said if their market rents get too high, her neighbors could be forced to move out, or if their income decreases, a moderate subsidy wouldn’t be an option for them.
“I want the same opportunity for the moderate income level that I’m enjoying right now,” said Weiss. “I want them to feel comfortable here, so they don’t run away and leave me.”
Ana Perdono, 67, a four-year resident who lives in a moderate-income unit, said through a translator that she wants other parents to have the same opportunity she did, which is to raise a family in an affordable apartment.
Perdono said she anticipated she would live at King’s Lynne for the remainder of her life, but even with the subsidy, rising rents may force her out of the complex.
According to the DHCD correspondence, the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Programs (MRVPs), which keeps the income-restriction with those 132 moderate-income units, will be converted to mobile (tenant-based) vouchers.
That means the affordability restriction will follow the tenant instead of staying with the apartment, according to Laura Gallant, an attorney with Northeast Justice Center, an organization that provides advocacy for low-income people and the elderly. Eventually, that could result in 60 percent of the development being reserved as market-rate, she said.
The scenario is not unique.
King’s Lynne is one of many low- and middle-income apartment complexes that were financed in that decade through Mass Housing’s Chapter 13A program. The program, a state rental development initiative created in the 1970s, functioned as a debt service subsidy, which reduced the interest rate on the mortgage to 1 percent for the owner.
Thousands of affordable housing units were created under the program, but the 40-year mortgage subsidies on those developments and their affordability requirements started expiring in 2014 and are all due to mature by the end of this year.
But the difference, Jochnick said, is that many of the other 13A developments statewide have been preserved as affordable with other existing subsidy programs. Ownership at King’s Lynne could choose to use the state’s low-income housing tax credit program to preserve the development’s affordability structure that “residents fought so hard for back in the 1970s,” she said.
What could come into play is the partnership between the property owner, Corcoran Jennison Companies, and the King’s Lynne Resident Council, an elected board of residents who have a 50 percent stake in ownership and are putting together their own proposal.
“We both make proposals,” said Anita Veilleux, president of the King’s Lynne Resident Council. “If we don’t come to an acceptance, we go forth from there. There’s nothing in confirmation yet. Right now, we’re working on the subsidies to secure (so) that the residents here continue to be here.”
Although she notes there is a concern from residents, Veilleux said there will be some protection in place for them by March 1. She said the council has obtained a 40T, the state’s expiring use law which provides a regulatory framework to preserve at-risk, publicly subsidized affordable housing.
That protection, which remains in place until 2023, keeps landlords from boosting rents by any amount. Rents will remain relatively stable for the next three years — they can only be raised 3 percent, along with a cost of living increase once a year, she said, but that’s still a challenge for many low-income tenants who live on a fixed income.
“Anybody who renews their lease in March will get a 4.5 percent increase, which depending on what you pay for rent, can be a lot or very little,” said Veilleux.
Despite Veilleux’s assurances that no agreement has been signed, the potential loss of 132 affordable units is causing mass concern among some long-time residents. They have organized their own independent group, “King’s Lynne Voices for Affordability and Respect,” which is affiliated with Lynn United for Change, a local organization that advocates for affordable housing.
Isaac Simon Hodes, an organizer with Lynn United for Change, said if the company opted not to preserve all of its affordable units, he would consider it “a betrayal of this community’s special legacy.”
King’s Lynne is the former America Park housing project. In 1970, it was considered one of the worst housing projects in Massachusetts. Of the original 408 units, 25 percent were boarded up and condemned.
The tenants of America Park organized and refused to accept housing authority renovation funds and instead used grant money to hire a consultant who conceptualized a privately owned and managed mixed-income community. The tenants generated private and public support for redevelopment. The new community was renamed King’s Lynne in 1974, according to a 1993 Item article.
Multiple calls seeking comment from the owners of Corcoran Jennison Companies, or their attorney, went unreturned.