By Journal Staff
The Board of Trustees of the Revere Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) held its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, December 10, in the City Council Chambers. Chair Joseph Gravellese was joined by Treasurer Anayo Osueke and fellow board members Lori Manzo, Dean Harris, Judy Gosselin, and Laiila Pietri.
Osueke presented the treasurer’s report. He said the AHTF has a balance in its account of $892,821.08, which he said reflects the next two payments of $167,00 that have been encumbered for the AHTF’s agreement to assist The Neighborhood Developers with their low-income housing project at 110 Ocean Ave.
The total includes a $250,000 payment recently received 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. The purpose of the linkage funds is to support affordable housing initiatives in the city.
Osueke also reported about the recent meeting of the AHTF’s Fundraising Subcommittee, of which he is chair. “We met on December 3 and discussed strategy for next year,” said Osueke. “We discussed a potential sponsor and a list of funding needs, such as funding for first-time homeowners, subsidies for unit sales, closing costs for affordable housing, home repair funds for new purchasers, costs for home inspection and lead inspection, and subsidies for insurance. We might present one or two of these items to a sponsor,” Osueke said.
Gravallese also mentioned that he is “pretty optimistic that we may be able to go to a potential private funder with a real proposal to grow what we did with the senior repairs program (which consisted of $55,000 for 12 homeowners) to a larger dollar total in order to help us go soup-to-nuts to get an older, low-income homebuyer’s home into good repair.”
The members next discussed the board’s goals and objectives for the coming year. “We accomplished a lot in 2025,” said Gravallese, noting the funding that the AHTF provided to some homeowners to help them purchase their homes and the success of the Senior Home Repair program.
Gravallese suggested a new, first-time homebuyer, buy-down program that essentially would help subsidize income-eligible purchasers, with the potential for the subsidized property to remain affordable in perpetuity.
Wolfer suggested that the buy-down could be used to lower the interest rate, similar to what national homebuilders presently are doing to spur sales of their homes.
Harris however, noted that in view of the AHTF’s limited funds, “If we were to buy a unit or two, we’re limited to impacting only one or two families,” Harris said (the AHTF last year expended more than $550,000 to subsidize the purchase of just two condo units in a new development), “but I did like the idea of helping developers out when we gave them a significant amount of money when it impacted 50 affordable units and gave us more bang for our buck.”
Gravallese noted that the per-unit cost for Habitat for Humanity is $400,000–$500,000, even with donated labor and modest, no-frills construction amenities. “This shows the scope of the housing crisis in Greater Boston and why we have to be selective with how we invest our money,” Gravallese said.
Gravellese and Harris briefly discussed the benefits of a split-proceeds program, whereby a subsidized homeowner would split their eventual profits and thereby provide future funds for the AHTF, even if it might be 10 years or more in the future.
Manzo suggested expanding the Senior Home Repair program to include income-eligible veterans, an idea that was met with approval from the members.
Gravallese next discussed the seven Senior Home Repair projects that have been paid out, totaling about $26.000, and noted that another six have been approved and are waiting for the contractor’s invoices for final payment.
A total of $55,000 was allocated for the program, which had been jump-started by former House Speaker Bob DeLeo, who made a generous initial donation of $12,500 that was amplified by a contribution oif $42,500 by the AHTF. Gravallese. noted that there is a waitlist of 7-8 more seniors who have been approved and who would be first in line if the program is renewed.
“Things went incredibly smoothly. This speaks to the professionalism of the staff of the Senior Center (who assisted homeowners with their applications) and our city’s Planning Dept.,” said Gravallese, who specifically mentioned the assistance of John Festa, the city’s Director of Economic Development.
Gravallese next noted that one of the affordable condos from the former Malden Housing Authority property has been sold to a Revere resident who will be receiving assistance from the AHTF’s down-payment program. He also said there is another unit in that building that is for sale and that is listed on the City of Revere’s website on the Programs and Support page.
Next up was a discussion of providing closing-cost assistance for income-eligible homebuyers and sellers (who are selling their affordable units). Gravallese suggested that the board create a pool of $30,000, with individual awards not to exceed $5000.
“We might have more success with this program than we’ve had with our first-time home-buyer down-payment assistance program,” said Wolfer.
The members unanimously voted to create the new program with a pool of $30,000, with the funds limited to certain closing costs, exclusive of broker’s fees, and not to exceed $5000 per applicant.
Gravallese concluded the meeting by noting that the application form for the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) loan program is moving forward, with the goal of having the program up and running by February.
The next meeting of the AHTF will be in January, 2026.
