On Tuesday evening, the Board of Selectmen reviewed and approved the Planning Board’s revised Housing Production Plan (HPP). Now the approved plan will be sent to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. If the department approves the plan, Harvard may be protected from “unfriendly” Chapter 40B developments, as long as the town is also meeting its yearly affordable housing production goals.
Chapter 40B is a state statute that allows local Zoning Boards of Appeals to approve housing developments under more flexible rules if 20 to 25 percent of the units have long-term affordability restrictions. An “unfriendly” 40B is a development that has been denied a comprehensive (all-in-one) permit by a town’s ZBA but has had that decision overturned by the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Court.
The most recent version of the plan shows that Harvard has made progress in meeting its state-mandated affordable housing goals. Since the last version of the HPP was published in 2011, Harvard has increased its stock of affordable housing units from 2.8 percent to 5.5 percent of total units, an increase of 2.7 percent.
The 2011 HPP (titled “Town of Harvard Affordable Housing Plan” and available on the town’s website) uses data from the 2000 census. The draft version of the 2017 HPP uses 2010 census data as well as data from the 2013 and 2014 American Community Surveys, published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Modest progress
In 2011, Harvard had a total of 2,225 housing units, 61 of which were listed as affordable on the town’s subsidized housing inventory (SHI). Since that time, the affordable housing stock has increased to 113 units. If the total number of housing units had remained the same from 2011 to 2017, that increase would amount to 2.2 percent, but Harvard lost 198 units, primarily due to MassDevelopment’s demolition of substandard housing units at Devens. Lowering the total number of units to 2,027 bumps that increase to 2.7 percent.
The Planning Board hopes to achieve the mandated 10 percent by 2027 and has set a goal of 11 new units of affordable housing per year. There are 50 additional units of housing in the pipeline. These units will come from developments at Pine Hill Village on Stow Road, Craftsman Village on Ayer Road, Devens Village Green in Devens, and Trail Ridge on Littleton County Road. When these developments are complete, and assuming no unexpected loss of current SHI units, Harvard will be at 8.3 percent. The Planning Board is estimating that this will occur by the end of 2019.
Increased need
While the report shows an increase in the number of affordable housing units available in Harvard, it also shows that the need for such units has increased. In 2011, when the last report was published, 106 of the 5,239 (2 percent) residents in Harvard lived at or below the poverty level. The most current data from the Census Bureau shows that the number of residents living at or below the poverty level has increased to 499 out of a total population of 5,525, which is 9 percent at or below the poverty level.
The report also points out that a greater percentage of Harvard households are “housing cost burdened” than households in Worcester County and Massachusetts in general. A household is considered housing cost burdened when it pays more than 30 percent of its income for housing. If the household pays more than 50 percent of its income for housing, it is considered “severely housing cost burdened.” Being cost burdened causes households to cut back on vital needs like food and health care in order to stay in their homes, according to “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2016” by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. If unexpected expenses are incurred, the risk of homelessness for these households, especially those considered to be low-income, is increased.
In Harvard, about 601 households (almost 30 percent) are considered housing cost burdened. The number of severely housing cost burdened households is about 74 (almost 16 percent). Even with the progress that has been made during the past five years, the need for affordable housing in Harvard is still great.
Harvard not alone
Harvard is not the only area community that has yet to reach its 10 percent affordable housing goal. According to the HPP, only Littleton has met its goal with 12.5 percent of its housing stock being considered affordable. Harvard is also behind Ayer (8.4 percent) and Stow (7.2 percent), but ahead of Lancaster (4.9 percent), Bolton (3.7 percent), Shirley (2.5 percent), and Boxborough (1.2 percent).
The Planning Board’s strategy
The last section of the HPP describes the Planning Board’s strategy to increase affordable housing stocks over the next five years. The board has identified 18 action items that fall into roughly six categories and assigned them a priority of one or two. Of those 18 items, eight are considered to be priority one. Boards and commissions other than the Planning Board may be responsible for action items.
Priority one items include revising the town’s clustered housing bylaw (Open Space and Conservation–Planned Residential Development bylaw Section 125-35), constructing the Hildreth senior housing project, revising accessory apartment provisions, subsidizing private housing for affordability, encouraging smaller housing units, continued Community Preservation Act funding for affordable housing, achieving 25 percent affordability at Devens, and encouraging innovative/alternative septic systems.
