I find it ironic that we had a proposal from the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust to build 100 housing units on 15 acres on Ayer Road with strong opposition from the surrounding neighborhood while, at the same time, there is a proposal by the Department of Housing and Community Development to increase housing on Devens by 400 units—a proposal that is supported by the Devens community and on which the selectmen have taken no action. Looking at these proposals together, it seems that it might be time for Harvard to take an approach to Devens housing that both supports the Devens community and provides a way for this part of town to participate in Harvard’s affordable housing strategy.
There were many good and creative ideas that the MAHT and Leo Blair put into the Ayer Road project that could be applied to the Devens proposal. For example, any new housing on Devens should comply with Devens Enterprise Commission regulations which require at least 10 percent be “low-income” to meet the state definition of “affordable.” Therefore, at least 40 of the 400 units proposed must be affordable. If the logic for the MAHT proposal on Ayer Road were applied to DHCD’s proposal, then 100 of the 400 units could be developed as rental units, with 25 of these being “affordable” (in doing so, all 100 would qualify toward the state’s 10 percent affordable requirement). The MAHT has completed a marketing study concluding that there is demand for this many rental units. With Harvard’s affordable housing plan also identifying rentals as a local need, any “workforce housing” proposal for Devens should include rental units.
I am not suggesting that we look to Devens to solve Harvard’s affordable housing problem. Rather, I am suggesting that the desire by the state and Devens community to increase housing on Devens should also consider the state’s affordability requirements and become part of the overall housing strategy for Harvard.
With Devens disposition still undetermined, our selectmen should take the approach that any disposition legislation must require all current and future affordable housing on historically Harvard land be counted for Harvard, even if they are also counted by another (separate?) municipality in the future. Devens needs to be part of Harvard’s affordable housing strategy, and any future disposition should also recognize this reality.
David Hopper
Littleton Road
