NAHANT – At the joint meeting between the Board of Selectmen and the Housing Authority, Town Administrator Antonio Barletta stated that the town is looking to hire a consultant to develop a Housing Production Plan.
“One thing that we are going to be doing at Town Meeting is applying through the CPC (Community Preservation Coalition) for funding to hire a consultant to help us develop that housing production plan,” he said. “The first phase of that would be to assess our status in terms of the GLAM (General Land Area Minimum).”
Barletta, along with Selectman Mark Cullinan, will meet with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to discuss ways to get some assistance in terms of developing a housing production plan as well to determine how much it would cost to hire a consultant to develop the plan.
The town administrator stated that the cost would start out at $30,000 but could grow as the creation of the plan progresses. Barletta added that affordable housing for seniors is an issue that has been well talked about around the town.
“As Mark mentioned, we certainly have heard from the town residents about the need for senior affordable housing,” he stated.
Barletta added that every town is required to meet a 10 percent threshold of subsidized housing inventory. Currently, Nahant only has three percent.
In practice, this means that, if developers wish to come to the town, they will be able to construct 40B housing that would override local zoning bylaws due to the fact that Nahant doesn’t meet the threshold. 40B developments are required to devote between 20 to 25 percent of their units to low- and moderate-income families.
The application will be submitted to the CPC within the next week.
“This is a good step towards finding affordable housing and senior housing,” said Dave Wilson of the Nahant Housing Authority. “As you know, seniors, we are getting old and some people can’t afford housing, so this is a good step in finding a solution.”
