The organization tasked with facilitating affordable housing in Harvard wants to expand its membership from five to seven members and also allow for an additional two associate members. Tuesday, the Select Board voted to grant the request.
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Chair Arielle Jennings told the Press Monday that the trust needs more people “to do the many things outlined in Harvard’s Housing Production Plan.” The trust hopes to add members with legal and property development skills, she said.
The production plan, completed in 2023, set out strategies for achieving the state’s requirement that 10% of the town’s homes be affordable to those earning no more than 80% of Worcester County’s median income. Today, the town’s affordable inventory stands at 5.6%, according to a February letter to the town from the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
To address the roughly 100-unit shortfall, the production plan calls for the town to take more than a dozen actions to advance affordability. Suggested regulatory measures include allowing innovative sewage treatment systems to be used townwide instead of only in parts of the commercial district and in development built under the Open Space and Planned Residential Development bylaw. Another regulatory measure recommended in the plan is to adopt inclusionary zoning, which requires larger developments to include affordable units or make a cash payment to the trust in lieu of units to support such housing. The plan also recommended that the trust subsidize additional affordable apartments at the Emerson Green development in Devens; the apartments will be built on land that was historically part of Harvard and will therefore count toward Harvard’s affordability quota.
This week’s change to the number of trustees is the second one since the group was created in 2006 as a seven-member board. In 2017, three years after its unsuccessful attempt to redevelop the historic Poor Farm on Littleton Road into affordable housing, the trust significantly revised its policies—prohibiting itself from buying land—and reduced the number of trustees to five.
Residents who want to know more about serving on the trust can contact Jennings at ariellejennings@gmail.com. Volunteer applications are available at harvard-ma.gov; under the News & Announcements tab, click on “Volunteer Opportunities.”
