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Concord trust reviews new "Building Community" housing strategy, targets MCI and Junction Village sites
Summary
The Concord Municipal Affordable Housing Trust reviewed a revised strategy paper setting five- and ten‑year unit targets across income tiers, emphasized MCI Concord and Junction Village as development priorities, and discussed zoning and funding steps to deliver very‑low and attainable units.
Matt Johnson, newly elected chair of the Concord Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, presented a revised strategy paper on June 3 that he said aims to seize current development opportunities and broaden the town's housing mix.
"Concord really won't have a better chance in our lifetimes to build a more vibrant and equitable community," Johnson said as he reviewed the paper, titled Building Community. The presentation frames targets for very‑low, low, moderate and attainable units and calls for both subsidy and zoning answers to meet five‑ and ten‑year goals.
Trust members focused discussion on two site opportunities highlighted in the paper: MCI Concord and Junction Village. Johnson said the trust must finalize a go/no‑go decision on a pending Main Street project and be ready to support a very‑low‑income or mixed‑income development on available town parcels.
Liz Rust, who provided data corrections to the draft, and others noted a slide error that reversed ownership and rental counts in the moderately affordable tier; trustees corrected the figures during the meeting. The corrected slide shows more ownership than rental units under some scenarios, a distinction the trust said matters for financing and developer interest.
Developers' typical project scale and financing shaped the discussion. Alex Hassinger and other trustees noted that tax-credit projects usually combine very‑low‑income restricted units with higher‑tier market or affordable units, and that many developers are most interested in 100–200 unit opportunities rather than very small projects.
Trustees discussed zoning tools the town could pursue in parallel with MCI Concord's master plan work: targeted zoning changes for specific municipal parcels, testing Chapter 40Y 'starter home' options on candidate sites, and packaging other zoning proposals for the next annual town meeting to complement MCI-specific zoning.
On funding, Johnson asked the trust to pursue a 25% allocation of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for fiscal year 2027 and to continue pursuing One‑Stop for Growth grants and Low‑Income Housing Tax Credits where appropriate. Trustees also discussed modest private fundraising or charitable giving as a supplemental tool.
The trust asked staff and partners to refine the strategy into concrete implementation steps — including project sequencing, liaison roles to CHDC and the Housing Authority, and a clearer funding timeline — and to circulate a revised paper after incorporating the meeting feedback. The paper will be shared with housing roundtable partners and MCI Concord consultants ahead of upcoming stakeholder sessions.
The meeting closed with trustees agreeing to continue monitoring the subsidized housing inventory quarterly and to coordinate zoning proposals to support the strategy at future hearings.
