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Sudbury Housing Trust votes to revise mortgage‑assistance eligibility to remove COVID reference
Summary
The trust voted to eliminate the program’s 2019/COVID lookback requirement and require applicants to show a loss of income compared with the prior year; the change aims to distribute remaining state funds and simplify eligibility.
The Sudbury Housing Trust voted to modify its mortgage‑assistance program to remove the pre‑COVID (2019) income reference and instead require applicants to show a reduction in income compared with the prior year.
Jack Ryan put the motion on the table to remove the COVID restriction and to require applicants to demonstrate a loss of income from the previous year. Kay Bell seconded the motion. Ryan then read the motion aloud as: “remove the COVID restriction and to change the requirements to show a loss of income from the previous year.”
Trust members discussed technical questions about income documentation. Liz (staff) explained the program currently compared applicants’ 2019 tax forms to current income and that the trust used federal 1040 filings as the basis for verification. She said changing the lookback period would let the trust preserve the program’s original spirit (help households whose incomes have fallen) while avoiding dependence on 2019 as the baseline. Trustees discussed edge cases (retirees whose income declined by design and recipients living on pensions or Social Security) and whether to limit the calculation to earned income; trustees agreed the application would continue to rely on 1040 documents rather than defining “earned income” separately.
Trust members also noted program origins and scale: the program was created with a $75,000 state mortgage‑assistance grant and originally paid $3,000 awards to eligible owners; staff stated there remain funds sufficient to process roughly 11 additional applicants under the program.
The motion passed by recorded voice roll call. Recorded ayes included Cynthia Howe, Ashley Reeser, John Reardon, Jack Ryan, Kay Bell, Janie Dretler and Carmen (last name variably transcribed). The chair declared the motion approved and directed staff to update the application language to compare the current year to the prior year and to remove explicit reference to 2019/COVID in the eligibility criteria. Trustees asked staff to implement an unforeseen‑circumstances/“through no fault of your own” clarification in the application wording to reduce unfair exclusions.
Staff said they would change the application language, reopen outreach for remaining applicants and attempt to obligate the funds before the end of the fiscal year.
