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Affordable Housing Trust asks committee for $300,000 to replenish trust and rental-aid funds
Summary
The Newburyport Affordable Housing Trust requested $300,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to replenish prior allocations (including a $450,000 local match for the Brown School redevelopment), add about $80,000 to emergency rental assistance and fund limited administrative outreach and reporting. Trust leaders warned the rental-assistance account is nearly depleted.
The Newburyport Affordable Housing Trust asked the Community Preservation Committee for $300,000 in CPA funding to replenish its trust balance and shore up emergency rental assistance.
"We're requesting $300,000 in CPA funding," said Drew Shapiro, co-chair of the Newburyport Affordable Housing Trust, during the committee's final round of applicant presentations. He said the request would replenish funds previously directed to the Brown School redevelopment and allow the trust to respond quickly to future affordable-housing development opportunities that require a local match.
Shapiro said the trust had allocated roughly $450,000 to the Brown School project across several fiscal years, and that the emergency rental assistance account has a current balance under $20,000. "The trust has provided almost $200,000 in rental assistance since 2020," he said, adding the request includes roughly $80,000 to restore that program (with 10 percent budgeted for administrative costs) and funds for outreach materials and a housing "report card."
Meline Nash, co-chair of the trust, described additional program work: a pilot homeowner rehabilitation program to be administered with Essex County Habitat for Humanity and ongoing down-payment assistance for deed-restricted first-time buyers. "We're hopeful that we'll have another opportunity [like the Brown School], and we need to have funds set aside," Nash said, urging the committee to consider the request to preserve the trust's ability to leverage competitive state resources.
Committee member Jane Healey asked about a $43,000 contribution toward demolition of the Brown School gym; Shapiro said that payment resulted from a direct city request and was intended to make the overall redevelopment financially feasible. Nash agreed.
Shapiro cited data from the city's housing production plan, saying about 40 percent of renter households are cost-burdened (spending more than 30 percent of income on housing) and that roughly 300 renter-occupied units were lost between 2010 and 2020 as units converted to condominiums. He said the trust has assisted 35 households since 2022 through the rental-assistance program.
The committee did not take a final vote on the request at the presentation meeting; members were reminded that deliberations and any formal funding decisions are scheduled for the committee's February 19 deliberation meeting.
Next steps: committee members were asked to review updated application materials and letters of support posted online before the Feb. 19 deliberations.
