For years a strong bias in this town against “affordable” housing has been the status quo. Endless articles about and discussion of the “40B Monster” that will come and destroy all in its wake, especially if that 40B includes families.
A Sept. 9 letter to the editor about the sewer plan stirs the pot by stating that, “…a parcel such as the Hazel Farm on Ayer Road could easily support several hundred units of family housing with its attendant cost to taxpayers for town services.”
I read in your Sept. 9 edition: “Consultant passes on housing plan contract. Bank issues 150 day foreclosure notice.” A consultant approached to create a “rescue plan” to preserve affordability and maintain the nine affordable family rental apartments in town (Great Elms and The Inn) “was not interested.”
These properties, part of Harvard for generations, are said to now need between $1.5 and $1.8 million in repairs and renovations, according to the housing trust.
The housing trust is said to have been working for the past two years to “save” the nine affordable units. What was being done before then to plan for, preserve and maintain these properties?
How, in a town as affluent as Harvard, could those entrusted with the care and management of these properties let them deteriorate to this extent? What conditions have tenants endured? Who oversees those who are managing the housing trust? Where is the accountability?
In the same edition of the Press a notice was published announcing that an affordable unit is available, and applicants may earn between $43,140 to $61,620 annually to qualify, based on family size. These are very hard economic times and decent family rental housing is tough to find.
Imagine what an applicant might think as they read that the properties need over a million dollars in renovations, and may be foreclosed upon.
Perhaps the potential applicants will draw comfort from the words at the end of the article about the consultant passing on the contract: “Because both properties are state-sanctioned affordable units, the state provides help to residents who may be displaced, including financial compensation and a list of alternative lodgings.”
The reporter’s note below this states: “Conservation land abutting the parcel (Great Elms) is separately owned and remains unaffected.” Whew.
What has this community become? Where is the compassion for and investment in human beings? Wealth is not just about income and assets. Growing up here in the fifties and sixties, I remember a town with much more economic diversity, and we were the richer for it.
I want to thank the League of Women Voters and its president, Maria Kaufmann, for working to bring the crisis with the housing trust and properties to the public’s attention, and for the League’s consideration of offering a loan while the town sorts out its funding mechanisms.
Laura Bridges
Brown Road
