By Adam Swift
The town’s affordable housing committee held a public event earlier this month touching on several issues surrounding affordable housing.
Affordable Housing Committee Chair Cassie Witthaus said one of the goals of the evening was to bring more awareness of the different kinds of housing in the community.
Representatives from the East Boston Community Development Corporation (EBCDC) spoke about how non-profit affordable housing works and how it differs from public housing and market rate housing.
EBCDC co-CEO Tanya Hahnel, said there are two examples of non-profit affordable housing in Winthrop with the Dalrymple School Apartments and the Feldman Seaside Apartments.
Hahnel said the affordable housing projects can be conversions of existing properties, such as at the Dalrymple school, or they can be new development, such as at the Feldman project.
The Dalrymple School is an example of historic rehabilitation, and is owned and operated by the EBCDC.
“Affordable housing can also take the form of purchasing existing buildings; the CDC has had a lot of success with purchasing historic buildings and renovating them,” said Hahnel. “This happens to be senior housing, so 62-plus. We have gardens and outdoor spaces … and we also have laundry facilities onsite, community kitchens, off-street parking, patios and open spaces, and community rooms where we work in partnership with groups like the Council on Aging to provide some programming for the residents of the building.”
Hahnel also discussed how affordable housing projects are developed and funded by organizations such as the EBCDC, and how people can be eligible and apply for the units once they are built.
She noted that there is a website available, housingnavigator.com, which is a great resource for public housing units available across the state from the EBCDC and other non-profit organizations.
“You can find applications for the Dalrymple School on our website, you can also find information about the Dalrymple School on the housing navigator site,” said Hahnel. “That’s a great place to go because it has everything available.”
Martin Pillsbury, a senior environmental advisor from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, discussed coastal resiliency issues and how it could affect the building of affordable housing in Winthrop. Pillsbury stated that some of the steps that could be taken to address coastal flooding issues include infrastructure-based, flood-risk reduction strategies such as living shorelines, seawalls, elevation, and floodable infrastructure such as public parks.
Witthaus the affordable housing members also provided information on how residents could access down payment assistance plans through federal HOME funds for first-time homebuyers.
Winthrop residents, as part of the North Suburban Consortium, can access more information about the program through information on the city of Malden’s website at cityofmalden.org/867/HOME-Program.