Amesbury Housing Trust

Amesbury Housing Trust RECEIVED By City Clerk at 12:25 pm, 8/18/21 June 9, 2021 In attendance: Nancy Frick, Steve Stanganelli, Kerry Hamel-Pope, Mayor Kassandra Gove Regards: Flo Pamphile and Margaret Hoffman 1. Call to Order at 4:40pm 2. Minutes from February 10, 2021 and April 14, 2021. Mr. Stanganelli moves to approve February 10th meeting minute, Kassandra seconded. Passed unanimously Nancy moved the April 14th meeting, Kassandra seconded. 3. Public Comment 4. Communications • Hired LDS to help us do research on our affordable housing monitoring. Found $24,000 of back charges for Amesbury Heights that were not charged since 2018. • Housing Trust Account update – we have nearly $100,000. • CDBG – provide regular updates. We are applying for FY2021 funding, bringing 2020 on board soon. Conducting a public session with service agencies to find out what our priorities are so we can develop a strong 2021 grant application • Habitat for Humanity wants to develop a subdivision neighborhood at 50 Market Street. 8 duplexes/town homes. This would be a friendly 40B. 5. New Business • Election of Chairperson – Nancy motioned to nominate Kerry Hamel-Pope as Chairperson. Kassandra seconded. Unanimous. • Adopting the Declaration of Trust – Steve moved to adopt the declaration of trust. Nancy seconded. Unanimous. Angie will work with KP Law to figure out how to record, and then get signatures. • Review of ideas and prioritization (see voting: https://forms.gle/vEYVnHYRMmDj7j3c8) o Steve went through the Order for a Means-Tested Senior Citizen Rental Assistance Program. It has not been proposed to the Council yet. Steve said that 300 people registered with DOR for the Circuit Breaker program. We would be the first community in Massachusetts to adopt something like this. Next step: Steve is looking for co-sponsors and reviewing quickly for the criteria. We should present some scenarios for this to make it more real...need to communicate it in the COA newsletter and talk with Doreen about this. o Priorities were Identify Local Revenue sources, Investigate ADUs and modify zoning, Conduct outreach to property owners of abandoned lots, Work with housing authority. Kassandra mentioned that we should focus on what we have. Maintenance of existing units/properties. Can we focusing on Contacting landowners of units that are charging affordable rents to put their units on the Subsidized Housing Inventory? Can we do this through the LIP? How do we find them: property management companies, Coco and Early, Cathy Toomey, etc. Steve motioned to approve these priorities, Nancy seconded. Unanimous. 6. Other Business 7. Next Meeting – July 14th at 4:30pm confirmed 8. Adjourn – motion to adjourn at 5:55pm by Steve, seconded by Nancy. Motion passed.