Melrose Takes Step Toward Affordable Housing

MELROSE, MA — The wheels are in motion for the creation of a trust fund that would help administer money earmarked for affordable housing.

The City Council on Monday night is expected to send an order to committee that would establish an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The order comes from Mayor Paul Brodeur's administration and is sponsored by President Jen Grigoraitis and Councilor Leila Migliorelli. For Brodeur, it fulfills another promise he made on the campaign trail.

"I am proud to deliver on my campaign promise to establish this Trust, and I am hopeful the Council will support it," Brodeur said. "Ensuring that we take a thoughtful and innovative approach to providing quality housing opportunities is more critical now than ever, and I am excited to get to work on this important initiative."

The trust fund would immediately be filled with $237,040 that has already come into the city via payments-in-lieu from when a housing development fails to create the lawful number of affordable housing units. The city recently made it so 15 percent of a development must be affordable housing, an increase from 10 percent. The trust fund would also continue to receive payments-in-lieu and other funding, such as grants.

The money would be able to be dispersed in a number of ways, including buying land for affordable housing, offering low-interest loans for first-time homebuyers or simply helping some people make rent when they can't afford to.

"Affordable housing is undeniably a challenge in Melrose," Migliorelli said. "The establishment of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund is an important step we need to take to move us forward in this conversation."

More than 100 communities in Massachusetts have some sort of similar trust. In Melrose, where Grigoraitis said 3 of 10 renters are rent-burdened (meaning rent costs more than 30 percent of the their take-home pay,) the trust fund is much-needed — especially as measures put in place to help during the pandemic wind down.

"As state-level eviction protections and federal-level supplement unemployment payments evaporate in the coming months, we at the local level need to be prepared to help our neighbors at risk of losing their housing due to lack of affordability," Grigoraitis said. "Right now, there is nowhere safer to be than at home, and the [Affordable Housing Trust Fund] helps to ensure that everyone, regardless of income, has a place to call home."

The creation of the trust fund would also come with a Board of Trustees, made up of five people appointed by Brodeur to oversee and administer funds.

From 2018:

Melrose Commits To Housing Increase; How Much Remains To Be Seen

Op-Ed: We Need A Stronger Foundation For Affordable Housing