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NEEDHAM, MA - The Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) has been promulgating new rules and regulations to expand and clarify the old rules and regulations regarding tenant participation in subsidized housing. In Needham, the Linden Chambers Housing Development for elderly and disabled residents MAY BE impacted by the updated policies. I say, "may be impacted" because, in Needham, the law is a variable thing, like the weather, it changes, depending on whose interests are served.
Needham is one of the richest towns in Massachusetts, so it is entirely logical and expected that such a place would value money above all else, to the extent that the needs of a less affluent population must be given second shrift in a face of the demands of Needham's wild west, real estate market. This is the primary difference between housing for the elderly (where we started in the 1960s) and affordable housing, proposed today by the NHA.
First, the state housing rent at L/C is income based and pegged at thirty percent of a tenants income. It is the only truly affordable housing in the state. Homeowners and renters paying more than 30 percent are considered "burdened." According to Ed Augustus , the State Secretary of Housing, EOHLC wants to preserve public housing, because without public housing, where would those people go? Plus, tearing buildings down is not considered sustainable. Besides NHA does not have a plan for relocation of the elderly, disabled, and poor. But NHA wants affordable housing.
For the second type of housing, the "affordable" type, the government supports, by means of vouchers, the rent and other expenses of the new housing. The NHA Development Team found that the Linden/Chambers Redevelopment, in going from concept to more detailed specifications, must add and expand the number of "affordable" units for the overall, bigger multi-family, double density, four story Federal housing development in the High Rock neighborhood school district, in order to be financially viable for the developers.
There's something else going on here. It may help to understand that Needham is a special town. I was born and raised in Needham, and my parents were both Republican. At that time, a person could be liberal and Republican and still get along in a Democratic state. Needham has always been unique, successful, and independent. So much so, that it was the final town of the contiguous towns to achieve a green designation from the state. I am sure Needham thought, we have money. We don't need your energy subsidies, nor your programs, and we don't like anybody telling us what to do. We are special.
In international circles, if Needham were a country, it would be like the USA. It would be an exceptional country. International treaties, laws, rules, and regulations are for those other countries, not for Needham, not for us.
Needham's exceptionalism may explain the MBTA zoning question, which was all about allowing greater density and mixed use in a transit centered approach to growth and development. Needham, Milton, and a few other towns had their own ideas.
Just like Needham, the Needham Housing Authority (NHA) treats itself as exceptional. The NHA ignores the rules, but in an erratic and irregular manner. The re-establishment of a Local Tenants Organization (LTO,) was supposed to open the door to financial support (nothing yet), office space (the NHA says they are not obligated to provide that) , and "a seat at the table." That's what the naively hopeful tenants are saying. So, the tenants at Linden Chambers worked for almost two years with nominations, voting, meetings, and so on, to get the moribund Linden Chambers Residents Association up a running again. We did that. And now we're looking for the seat. Where's the seat? Where's the table?
(to be continued under Tenant Participation)
