By Journal Staff
The board of the Revere Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, July 10, in the City Hall Council Chambers. Chair Joe Gravellese presided over the session that was attended by vice-chair Claire Inzerillo, treasurer Anayo Osueke, Laila Pietri, Deb Frank, Lori Manzo, Matthew Wolfer, and Dean Harris. Osueke presented the Treasurer’s report. He said the AHTF has a balance in its account of $637,463.70, a reduction from the balance of $1,153,850 that the board had in May before spending more than $500,000 to subsidize the purchase of two condos for below-market rate purchasers in the new condo development at 133 Salem St.
There will be a lottery in August to determine who will be the purchasers of those two units, in addition to the 18 other affordable units in the complex to which the AHTF contributed $100,000 in matching funds this past October that unlocked a sizeable grant from a state program to encourage the developer to offer units for low-income purchasers.
The principal discussion of the short session (about 20 minutes) centered around the adoption of a strategic plan, including a budget, by the board for the coming five years.
The board has been meeting with representatives from the consulting firm of Jenn Goldson Associates over the past month to develop a plan. Noah Harper from Goldson was on hand to answer questions from the board regarding the draft plan that Goldson submitted. The board will be getting together again with Goldson to finalize the strategic plan at its next meeting.
Gravallese noted that providing assistance to senior homeowners for repairs to their properties, which the board had contemplated making part of its strategic plan, does not fall within the guidelines for the expenditure of funds from the AHTF’s account. The next meeting of the AHTF will be held in August.
