Housing is expensive, and getting more so. That's not news. It's probably also not news to Bulletin readers that it's more expensive in Amherst than in other cities and towns in Hampshire County. According to census data, in the year 2000, the median value for homes in Amherst was $177,000; in Hampshire County as a whole, it was $142,400. The sharpest increase happened during the decade of the 80s. We all know that the years since the census have followed the same trend.
Incomes are not keeping up. Between 1980 and 2000, median income in Amherst increased from slightly under $25,000 a year to about $60,000. The median house value increased from slightly over $50,000 to that $177,000 figure. According to the census, there are 56 households in Amherst who own, no longer pay a mortgage, and yet spend at least 50% of their income on housing costs.
Also, we've had a shift in the kind of housing in town. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of rental units in Amherst increased by only 2, while the number of owner-occupied units increased by 695. For low-income people, the realities are harsh. In June 2003, there were 106 people on the waiting list for the Amherst Housing Authority's elderly and handicapped units, and 166 for their family housing.
Obviously, the major forces driving these escalating prices are national or regional in scope, and beyond our ability to control. However, most of us don't feel morally justified in simply declaring some people victims of historical forces. The questions are, what can we as a community do to keep at least some housing "affordable" for people with average or lower incomes? And, are we willing to do it?
Amherst has had a policy for years of supporting the provision of "affordable housing." The town participated in federal and state programs, when they were available, for building subsidized rental housing for the elderly, handicapped, and low income families. We've made major efforts to develop scattered-site units, anywhere a parcel becomes available at little or no cost. The town has encouraged developers to include affordable housing through incentives in the Zoning Bylaw. Until a few years ago we had a person in the Planning Department who worked primarily on housing (unfortunately, when she left, the position was not refilled due to budgetary constraints).
As a result of all this, Amherst is one of the few communities in the Commonwealth that has met the stated goal of at least 10% affordable - just barely.
However, if we do nothing to keep up this effort, we will lose that distinction. Each market-rate house built raises the bar for meeting the 10%. I don't think we want to slip below it. Having met that goal protects us from hostile action by developers of low-cost housing who can force a project through regardless of zoning in those towns that don't meet the goal. Also, in my opinion, we would fail in meeting our obligations to the less fortunate among us.
It is impossible to offer housing for everyone who wants to live in Amherst. We are an attractive town; when housing is available, people move here from further out. We don't have the funds to build many units, and we don't have the land either. Nobody wants to cover all our vacant land with housing, and there isn't enough of it even if we did want to to catch up with the demand for more than a short time.
So what do we want to do? And how will we do it? Where do we put our focus? Rental? First-time home owner? Both? How? We don't want to adopt policies that encourages a contest for who is more needy or deserving between moderate-income and poor families.
The Housing Partnership / Fair Housing Committee has been working on these issues for years. They study and document the needs, then develop programs for meeting those needs, to the extent possible, with town resources. Recently, with the assistance of a consultant, they finished the 2003 Update to Amherst's Affordable Housing Action Plan. The original Plan is over a decade old. The Plan, which is the source of the facts I've cited, is available on the Town's Web site: go to http://www.amherstma.gov; choose Town Government, then Departments, Planning, then Publications.
They have a proposal, supported by the Community Preservation Committee, for housing on Olympia Drive that will come to the Fall Town Meeting.
Acceptance of the Updated Plan by the Select Board has been held up, apparently due to some concerns about the wording and, perhaps, the focus on rental housing. I'm concerned about this delay for several reasons. One is that the mission of the Committee, and the purpose of the report, is to create places to live for real live people, not to write some "perfect" report.
Another reason is that having an up-to-date Affordable Housing Plan on file with the Commonwealth is important to the Town. The Romney administration decided to rate communities on how well they meet "smart growth" goals. There is a long and complicated application form that towns must fill out; the rating a community receives from the Commonwealth Capital program review can determine up to 20% of the overall score for applying for competitive grants for housing, open space, economic development, etc. Because our Affordable Housing Plan is so old, we don't currently meet that qualification. The Romney administration is also using this Commonwealth Capital rating system within state agencies, for example, using it to decide where the Department of Conservation and Recreation can spend money to protect land..
I hope the Select Board will quickly decide to support the work the Housing Partnership / Fair Housing Committee is doing to increase the supply of affordable housing in Amherst. That Committee works only on this issue; I doubt the Select Board, with Town Meeting approaching and major financial decisions to make, has time to try to do that Committee's work, too.