What’s up with affordable housing in Newton?
What we learned from the Newton’s Housing Priorities Task Force
On Wednesday evening, April 29, more than 60 people gathered online and at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in West Newton to consider two critical questions: Who can afford to live here? and What can Newton do to create more affordable housing?
The evening featured a presentation of the Newton Housing Priorities Task Force Report. Ann Houston, Chair of the Newton Affordable Housing Trust, walked people through the report’s findings.
No one pretended there was one easy fix.
Click here to see the video Click here to see the presentation slides
Who can afford to live in Newton?
Houston walked through the widening gap between what many workers earn and what it costs to live in Newton. Currently, 42% of Newton renters and 24% of those who own their homes are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
Consider the numbers:
The average rent in Newton is $3,500 for a two-bedroom apartment. A household earning $80,000 a year may be financially comfortable in many places. In Newton, that household is nowhere close to easily affording the average two-bedroom rent.
The average home price in Newton is about $1.7 million, requiring an income of $480,000 to afford!
Snapshot of affordable homes in Newton
Affordable housing programs usually measure eligibility against Area Median Income, or AMI, a regional income benchmark used to determine who qualifies for different levels of housing assistance. Many essential professions fall into the "low" or "very-low" income tiers. (See the chart below.)
The people priced out include retail workers, personal care attendants,early childhood educators, and even public school teachers with a masters who have worked in Newton for 5 years. These are people Newton depends on. Increasingly, they can work here, but they cannot live here. That is not what a welcoming city looks like.
Newton’s current housing market does not produce homes affordable to low- and moderate-income residents. That means the city has to rely on subsidized, deed-restricted affordable housing.
Today, Newton has 2,075 affordable homes, just 6.2% of the city’s total housing stock. Most of these are rental (1,987) with only a small percentage of ownership affordable homes (88). Over half of these homes are age-restricted to seniors.
A common local assumption is that Newton’s affordable housing is concentrated north of the Turnpike. The research for the report found that In fact, 63% of Newton’s affordable units are south of the Pike.
A few numbers that framed the conversation
As Houston talked us through the Task Force's recommendations for the future, two specific figures stood out:
302 affordable homes are at risk. Some affordable homes are only guaranteed to remain affordable for a set period of time. When those restrictions expire, the homes can revert to market rates. Over the next decade, 302 affordable units in Newton are at risk. Preserving these homes is often faster and cheaper than replacing them after they are lost.
Small housing projects with city funding have cost the city 5 times as much as larger projects, on average. The Task Force reviewed 10 years of affordable housing projects that have received funds from the City. Projects with 10 or fewer units cost the City an average of $351,642/unit. Projects with 33-49 units cost the City an average of $64,037/unit as larger projects are eligible for state and federal subsidies.
$480,000 is needed to subsidize a single ownership unit. While affordable homeownership matters, it is one of the most expensive tools available to the city. Houston explained that creating a single affordable ownership unit can require up to $480,000 in local public subsidy.
How can Newton boost its housing toolkit?
Make the permitting process more efficient, reducing the time and expense of building affordable housing. (One attendee on Zoom who is the Chief Financial Officer for a non-profit affordable housing developer noted that for a project they are working on in another community they are paying $20,000 per day in interest on their construction loans. 50 days of delay means an additional cost of $1,000,000!)
Expand by-right multifamily zoning. This would allow projects that meet clear rules set by the city to move forward without an expensive special permit process. (More than 65 affordable homes are in the works due to the new village center zoning.)
Continue to support the 40B process even when Newton reaches the required 10% of affordable housing. Chapter 40B requires more affordable units than Newton’s inclusionary zoning while the city has more leverage in working with the developer than it does through the special permit process.
Increase the money available to help create affordable homes. Direct more CPA funding to Newton’s Affordable Housing Trust.
Leverage city funds with state and federal subsidies. Larger projects are eligible for subsidy while smaller ones are not.
Take advantage of municipal and state properties for affordable housing. Utilize city resources to support an RFP for affordable family rental housing (e.g., process used for the Armory).
Housing Priorities Task Force Policy Recommendations
Rental - Prioritize low-income (<60% AMI) family rental housing production (while recognizing pressing need for every type of affordable housing and supporting development opportunities as they emerge).
Ownership - Be strategic with Newton’s limited dollars by relying on Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permits and Newton’s inclusionary zoning to produce new affordable homeownership while refining City priorities for affordable homeownership.
Preservation - Plan for, and invest, to preserve the existing 2,075 affordable units.
What you can do now
Newton's housing future won't be decided by data alone. The City Council holds the cards in deciding the future of affordable housing. Every City Councilor has said that they support affordable housing.
Now it is time to see what they will do to actually support affordable housing. Will they allow more of the CPA funds to go to the Affordable Housing Trust? Will they advocate for the use of available municipal or state property to build more affordable housing? Will they help find ways to simplify the permitting process and make it more efficient? Will they support expanding by-right opportunities to build more multifamily homes? Will they make sure that the existing affordable units are preserved?
Let them know that you support more affordable housing and that you’d like them to take concrete steps to meet those goals.
