THOMAS M. CALLAHAN
Bond bill needed
With less than two weeks before the end of the legislative session, Bay State lawmakers have yet to approve a $508 million housing bond bill – making housing advocates ever more nervous in the face of impending budget cuts.
The failure to approve a bond bill has halted repairs and renovations at public housing units throughout the state. Roughly $59 million worth of construction projects have been delayed at 16 local housing authorities, according to one estimate. In addition, if the bill doesn’t get passed by July 31, several nonprofit groups – which have waited months for funding that was promised to them to develop new housing units – might have to wait until January to find out if they will get any money after all.
This all comes as a deadline for applications for funding through the primary state agency that supports housing programs is looming. The Department of Housing and Community Development is continuing to accept grant applications for rental housing projects through the Sept. 5 deadline, even though money for several bond-funded programs may not be available.
If a bill doesn’t get approved, the DHCD will have to notify developers that funding is not available and fewer projects overall will get money awards through other resources that are available.
The bond bill pays for key programs through the Housing Stabilization Fund, used for repairs and renovations to existing public housing units, and the Housing Innovations Fund, which helps pay for the creation of new low-income units.
“It certainly could have an impact upon the stuff that we’re trying to get under control because we are highly dependent upon housing bond bill funds to do what we do,” said Mark J. Winkeller, executive director of Caritas Communities, a nonprofit group based in Braintree that owns lodging houses for low-income people in Massachusetts. Caritas Communities acquires lodging, or rooming, houses and heavily relies on a combination of state resources to buy and renovate properties.
Winkeller said the longer it takes for the bond bill to be passed, the bigger the backlog of projects waiting to get started will grow for nonprofit and for-profit developers.
Housing advocates also fear that renovation projects that have been stalled or halted will grow bigger and more costly as time goes on. A Winthrop family housing development, for example, couldn’t proceed with roof repairs earlier this year because the bond bill money wasn’t there. Those roof problems could have been exacerbated by now, or led to water damage in other areas of the property.
‘Out of Money’
“It’s serious,” said Thomas M. Callahan, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance in Dorchester. “If it [the bond bill] doesn’t pass, it will have an impact on housing production and rehab [projects] across the state.”
Advocates hoping that the bond bill will be saved at the 11th hour have been encouraged by assurances from state lawmakers that the bill will get passed by July 31, the end of the session.
Different versions of the bond bill passed the House and Senate last year. A conference committee of both House and Senate leaders agreed on a compromise bill in February, but later House members decided not to vote on the bill. The holdup was blamed on disagreement over the omnibus housing bill, which includes, among other things, changes to Chapter 40B, the state’s anti-snob zoning law. Under Chapter 40B, developers can practically bypass local zoning when proposing housing with an affordable component in communities where less than 10 percent of the housing is dedicated to low- and moderate-income residents.
Some suburban leaders critical of Chapter 40B argue that developers have abused the law by proposing excessively large housing developments without considering the burden the extra housing is placing on local services. Lately, state leaders have indicated that the differences and controversies over the omnibus housing bill have been resolved.
“We’re sort of hopeful that the allegedly minor points that need to be worked out will get worked out,” said Michael Gondek, executive director of Boston’s Community Economic Development Corp., or CEDAC. CEDAC makes recommendations to DHCD on which projects to fund and underwrites loan applications.
DHCD is accepting funding applications because developers typically requests money from various pools, some funded through the bond bill and others from different sources.
But since many nonprofit groups and developers rely on a combination of funding sources, passage of the bond bill is critical because many housing programs depend on it, said Gondek.
“Several of the main programs that typically are incorporated in that [DHCD] funding round are completely out of money or oversubscribed,” he said.
Callahan said that some developers might try to tap into other resources, perhaps asking cities and towns to chip in more for housing projects.
“But that’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said.
Callahan said he is hopeful that the issue will be resolved, recalling that in 1993 the housing bond bill was passed at 11:30 p.m. on the last day of the legislative session.
“Unfortunately, this is what happens [with bond bills],” he said.
Beth Bresnahan, a DHCD spokeswoman, said that if the bill doesn’t get passed, the agency will have to wait until the next legislative session in January to see what happens and developers will be told that their projects will have to be put on hold.
“We’re hoping for the best and hoping that this can be resolved by the end of the legislative session,” said Bresnahan.
