MARBLEHEAD — Marblehead officials voted last week to adopt a Housing and Production Plan that will help the town better understand and address the affordable housing needs of its aging population.
Town Planner Rebecca Curran said the 132-page document — which was composed in consultation with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council by Planning Board and Housing Authority members, the Fair Housing Committee, and the Board of Selectmen — confirmed that Marblehead’s senior population has grown considerably over the last decade.
“One of the things we found through this is that our senior population is growing a lot,” Curran said. “There’s a long waiting list on Housing Authority properties for the elderly, and there’s also a need for all different kinds of housing for elderly persons.”
In general, Housing Production Plans (HPPs) are meant to aid municipalities in meeting state targets for affordable housing stock, as well as provide outlines for shaping a town’s overall housing development. Marblehead’s plan in particular, however, noted the town’s older demographic as an area of concern.
According to the report, the number of households led by someone 55 or older increased from 6,597 to 7,978 — or by 21 percent — between 2010 and 2017. Meanwhile, the number
of Marblehead residents between the ages of 25 to 44 shrunk by 63 percent in the same time frame.
The HPP report also stated these trends clash with the town’s current housing stock, 77 percent of which is made up of single-family homes, and called for more diverse housing options.
“A spectrum of different housing units will be needed to retain aging households looking to downsize and to attract young professionals and young families that support Marblehead’s future,” the document said, adding that the mismatch between the town’s changing household demographics and its high home prices has troubling implications for Marblehead’s future. “Without new housing for a range of different life stages and income levels, the town’s public institutions, local economy, and sense of community could suffer.”
Currently only 4.3 percent of Marblehead’s housing is classified as affordable.
To find solutions, the plan looked at nearby “context communities” — communities with similar demographics that provide a frame of reference to compare data — and ultimately identified 26 strategies, including programming, community engagement, resources, regulatory, and funding strategies, that will be implemented over a five-year period or longer.
“What we wanted to do was use (the HPP) as a roadmap on how to approach affordable housing and quantify what the needs were,” Curran said. “We looked at the demographic information just to understand what the need was here, then developed ways we intend to address that.”
