The Board of Trustees of the Revere Affordable Housing Trust Fund (RAHTF) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, August 9. On hand for the session were chair Joe Gravellese and fellow members Jan Dumas, Laila Pietri, Anayo Osueke, Claire Inzerillo, Deb Frank, and Dean Harris.
The meeting began with Osueke, the board’s treasurer, presenting his monthly update. He said the board has a balance in its account of $852,136. He discussed briefly the issue of investing that money in an interest-bearing account similar to City funds that are currently earning more than five percent in interest. At Gravallese’s request, Osueke will look into possible investment opportunities for the funds and will report back at the next meeting.
The members then discussed the potential for home ownership programs that the RAHTF might be able to undertake.
Gravellese reported that he and other members of the board visited Habitat for Humanity’s completed and ongoing projects in Malden.
“The quality looked really excellent and the visit proved very enlightening,” said Gravallese.
“The site visit changed my perspective and made me feel more comfortable in doing a large-scale project with a group such as Habitat,” added Inzerillo, who also noted that partnering with an established and respected entity such as Habitat would go a long way toward easing the opposition of many residents to affordable housing projects in the City.
Lorena Escolero from the office of Planning and Community Development said she visited a property on Suffolk Ave., which is in tax title, with representatives from Habitat. She said the representatives deemed the site as “buildable,” though there are challenges based on its proximity to abutters. She said the site is about 6000 sq. ft. and that the existing zoning allows for a two-family home.
Gravallese said that if the board is to move forward on a project on the site for a one or two-family residence, even though allowable under zoning, he feels it would be essential to engage with the community in order to achieve their support. The board then voted unanimously to ask the City Planning Dept. to ask the City Council to convey the property to the RAHTF.
Gravallese next informed his fellow board members that the recently-passed state budget has included $25,000 for a pilot program in the City to provide financial assistance for first-time Revere home buyers. He suggested that the program’s parameters might include, for example, those who have been Revere residents for at least five years. He also said that the state funds could be supplemented with funds from the RAHTF.
Harris pointed out that the Revere Housing Authority, in conjunction with Mass. Housing, already has a program by which participants are able to place funds into an escrow account which they can accumulate and utilize at a later time for a first-time home purchase.
Gravallese noted that there could be a “synergy with the Housing Authority” that could include financial augmentation from the RAHTF for a downpayment for a first-time homebuyer.
However, what all members agreed is that the underlying problem with the potential development of “affordable housing” programs in the City is that Revere no longer is considered to be an affordable-housing market. Harris noted that a family who participated in the RHA escrow-program had to go to Worcester in order to find a home that they could afford, even with their escrow funds as a downpayment.
In the final piece of business of the meeting, Inzerillo was voted to be the vice-chair of the board.
