By Journal Staff
The Board of Trustees of the Revere Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, November 12, in the City Council Chambers. Chair Joseph Gravellese was joined by Treasurer Anayo Osueke, and fellow board members Dean Harris, Judy Gosselin, Deb Frank, and Laili Pietri.
Osueke presented the treasurer’s report. He said the AHTF has a balance in its account of $663,624.29, which takes into account $167,000 that is encumbered for the next two payments to The Neighborhood Developers (TND), to whom the AHTF made a grant of $250,000 for TND’s low-income housing development at 110 Ocean Ave.
TND’s 110 Ocean Ave. project is a collaboration with North Suffolk Community Services (NSCS), which owns the property. The new, 7-story building will incorporate eight group living units, commercial space for NSCS to provide supportive services and classes for community members, 12 one-bedroom apartments set-aside for residents eligible for services through NSCS, and 36 two and three-bedroom apartments for families.
The bank account balance also reflects an additional $10,625.19 that will be contributed by the AHTF to the Senior Citizen Home Repair program.
However, the balance does not reflect a recent contribution of $250,000 from Mill Creek Residential LLC, a national residential company, pursuant to a linkage agreement that was a condition of the city’s approval for Mill Creek’s Modera residential project at 550-560 Revere Beach Blvd. (which is now renting units) to support affordable housing initiatives in the city. Modera Revere Beach is a contemporary apartment community featuring 357 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes with an average size of 901 square feet.
Gravellese mentioned that the Revere Housing Coalition, an advocacy group for affordable housing and zoning changes that has ceased its activities, may be contributing the remaining balance of about $4000 that is in its account to the AHTF.
Osueke provided an update of the efforts of the Fundraising Subcommittee. He said that the subcommittee will be reaching out to organizations and quantifying specific goals for the start of the 2026 fundraising cycle in order to apply for grants by the spring of 2026.
Gravellese then discussed the Senior Home Repair program, which launched with $50,000 thanks to a generous donation of $12,500 from former House Speaker Bob DeLeo and $37,500 in matching funds from the AHTF. The purpose of the program is to provide income-eligible senior citizens with grants of up to $5000 in order to make repairs to their homes that will allow them to age in place. After some preliminary hiccups, the program got underway in the early fall.
“It has been a great success,” said Gravellese. “There was a lot of interest and a lot of applicants — we had 26 applications submitted within a week.” He thanked the staff of the Senior Center for their assistance in the process, though he noted that an issue that arose for many applicants was their difficulty in finding qualified contractors for their small projects.
He noted that roofing repairs were among the most sought-after projects, for which the grants will provide partial assistance. He also noted that other project items included a wheelchair lift, HVAC work, and the installation of grab-bars in bathrooms.
Gravellese said there have been five awards totaling about $19,000 that have been approved, and six others with signed contracts, totaling about another $28,000, for which the payments have yet to receive final approval. In addition, he said there are two other completed applications for which he asked for an additional appropriation of $5000, which the board approved
Gravallese noted that there is a waiting list of eight applicants who will be eligible for grants if the AHTF authorizes another round of funding in the future.
He added that eight applications were rejected because of the failure to meet income, age, or other guidelines and requirements of the program.
As regards the loan program pursuant to the state’s new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) law (and subsequent city ordinance), Gravellese said that applications for loans for the ADU program will be available after the new year.
He also mentioned that applications for new grants from outside organizations will be available after the new year.
Gravellese reported that two home purchasers have received grants from the First-Time Homebuyers Program. He said other prospective home buyers have been approved for grants, but have yet to find homes for which they have a signed Purchase and Sales agreement.
Gravellese also discussed the upcoming sale of two affordable condo units at 291 Revere St. which had been under the auspices of the Malden Housing Authority, but which have been transferred to the City of Revere. He said the two condo units are deed-restricted, which means that the owners must re-sell their units pursuant to current affordable housing guidelines.
He suggested that the AHTF could incentivize the current owners to work with the city to sell the properties to Revere residents by waiving the 1.5 percent fee associated with the sales of these condos. He noted that local real estate brokers have been informed of the restrictions and guidelines for the sale of the two units.
Gravallese also asked the board to approve a small pool of funds of about $4,000 to be set aside in order to support closing-cost assistance for real estate sales to Revere residents. After Osueke suggested that the amount to be set aside be increased to $10,000, Gravallese concluded the meeting by tabling his motion pending further research into how other communities are handling the issue.
