NAHANT — Although a lack of quorum prevented the Housing Production Plan Advisory Sub-Committee from meeting Thursday, members engaged in a public dialogue about affordable housing.
In order to comply with Section 40B — a state law requiring cities and towns to reserve roughly 10% of their housing stock for affordable housing — Nahant is working to map the production of 84 affordable-housing units in its five-year housing production plan.
In an interview Thursday evening, Sub-Committee Chair Michelle Capano said that with little to no commercial tax revenue, Nahant is tasked with producing as many units as it can without pulling from its general fund.
Capano said the town is currently considering the use of private developers or charitable organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, in an effort to meet its housing requirements with minimal taxpayer burden.
“I respect the idea of not putting this tax burden on the taxpayer. Unfortunately, having grown up in this town, I’ve seen the taxpayer pay for a lot of things. We’ve done a few (Proposition) 2½ overrides where people weren’t happy about it,” Capano said. “We’re going to put a plan together, we’re going to ask for support and endorsement, and then we’ll figure out how to pay for it afterwards.”
Currently, Capano said the town is considering the production of an affordable-housing complex on at least one town-owned property. One possibility is the expansion of the Spindrift Building on Nahant Road through the creation of a 3-acre lot of land on the adjacent Greystone Road.
Other potential spots for housing development, Capano said, include the wetland area near Ward Road. She added that depending on the outcome of the Special Town Meeting on Sept. 12, parts of the Coast Guard housing neighborhood could potentially be redeveloped as affordable housing.
“There’s four house spots over there. I know it’s in wetlands, but you could still do development and pilings over there,” Capano said. “There’s plenty of houses over in that location on pilings.”
Sub-Committee member Josephine Reis said that in addition to new development, she hopes to find other ways to create affordable housing in compliance with 40B.
“(Affordability) vouchers, rent-controlled apartments. There are so many options, building is one valid, wonderful option. But it’s not the only one,” Reis said. “We have to be judged as a small community with no true commercial income. I think that’s going to be our biggest challenge for this committee.”
The Housing Production Advisory Sub-Committee will next meet on Zoom Thursday, Aug. 31 at 6:30 p.m. to formally discuss 40B compliance options.
