If The Inn sells at the right price, Great Elms could be spared
Foreclosure auctions for two affordable rental properties have been rescheduled from April to May to give tenants at one property time to find new quarters, according to the lender, Ayer-based North Middlesex Savings Bank.
The single commercial loan for the properties fell into default last April when its owners—Harvard Trust Non-Profit Properties, a volunteer group that has existed since the 1990s for the sole purpose of operating The Inn and Great Elms—ran out of money after years of scraping by. If The Inn’s May auction fetches enough money to cover the loan, Great Elms will be spared, according to those involved in negotiating with the lender. The amount required is $260,973.43, according to a loan forbearance agreement.
The Inn’s real value is not clear. It sold for $211,000 in 1985, but needs work; estimates from a 2010 housing consultant’s report put numerous basic upgrades and repairs at $322,000. The lender declined to disclose the result of its recent appraisal.
But the circa-1825 Fairbank Street home is attracting attention, noted Victor Normand, president of Harvard Trust Non-Profit Properties and broker-owner of Acton Real Estate.
“Two developers so far have contacted me,” he said, citing the impending sewer service and the fact that The Inn lacks an affordable deed restriction as features attractive to a buyer. (A new owner must adhere to tenant’s rights law, but need not retain affordable units.)
The Rufus Porter murals in the downstairs hallway could attract certain buyers, too, as could its eligibility to continue as either a multi-unit (through grandfathered zoning) or single-family home.
Meanwhile, Harvard’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, which has been involved since last June with the effort to salvage some affordable units through the foreclosure, struggles to find Harvard housing for one of the two tenants remaining at The Inn.
“We’re close on one tenant. We’re not close on the other,” said Selectman Ron Ricci at a March 12 meeting of the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust. Ricci is the Board of Selectmen’s liaison to the housing trust. “There is little in the way of rental property for families. We see one tenant going to Bowers [Brook Apartments on Ayer Road], but there’s nowhere for the other person to go in Harvard.”
Bowers Brook is age-restricted.
“Given the contingent nature of what might happen to the [Great] Elms, then it behooves us to get more for The Inn. We will get the most if it is unoccupied,” said housing trust member Bruce Nickerson.
At the meeting, Harvard Trust Non-Profit Properties president Victor Normand said a housing voucher from the state could solve the tenant’s problem and has requested one from the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The state, however, is focused instead on producing a relocation plan—to be written by a consultant for a fee of about $7,000—as the next step, according to Normand.
Relocation consultant a requirement
In response to Normand’s remarks, housing trust members questioned the state’s focus on the relocation plan. Ricci said the DHCD-recommended “relocation specialist” he spoke with two months ago advised that a plan was unnecessary for fewer than five tenants.
“It’s not really right to ask for a $7,000 disbursement [to create the plan],” said housing trust member Barbara Brady.
“The trustees will directly help the tenants but we won’t help the consultants,” Ricci said.
“[The Relocation Plan] is a federal requirement,” said DHCD spokesperson Mary-Leah Assad on Monday in an email to The Press, addressing the obligations built into the federal block grant (HOME program) received by owners of The Inn and Great Elms in the early 1990s.
The money was used to remove lead paint and maintain the circa 1825 (Inn) and 1720 (Elms) properties. As HOME loan recipients, the owners must “comply with all requirements of the Uniform Relocation Act,” she said.
According to DHCD, an owner’s obligations under the Uniform Relocation Act are as follows:
- Give a minimum notice of four months.
- Assist in finding comparable, decent, safe, sanitary replacement housing.
- Pay for the move.
- Pay the rent and utility differential for up to 48 months, with an upper limit of $5,250 for a federally funded project [such as The Inn].
- If a tenant doesn’t receive proper notice or disagrees with the amount of relocation assistance, he or she may file a written appeal to HUD.
When The Inn is sold, tenant rights persist, though the new owners are under no obligation to retain affordability. As for the HOME loan, the state will be responsible for paying back at least some of it. Such loans are payable only when a property ceases to be affordable, as The Inn would at its sale. DHCD officials have said that they expect Harvard to replicate those lost affordable units elsewhere in town.
Even before the DHCD spokesperson had responded to Press inquiries about the relocation plan, state officials had hired a consultant to create it, at no cost to Harvard.
“I did get an email from [the Massachusetts Housing Partnership] informing me that a specialist had been hired,” Normand said soon after the March 12 housing trust meeting.
Tenant still looking for Harvard home
While the relocation plan is being written, a Harvard resident continues to search for suitable quarters in town. Given that the rental units at The Inn and Great Elms are the only state-certified, affordable dwellings in town that are available to all age groups, the search could be difficult. (All other rent-controlled rentals in Harvard—including the soon-to-be-opened Bowers Brook Apartments on Ayer Road—are restricted to the 55-and-older set.)
“DHCD is reviewing a request for a housing voucher,” said DHCD spokesperson Mary-Leah Assad on Monday.
