Susan Gittelman
In one way, demographics are aligning to offer up some hope in Massachusetts’ ongoing battle to create enough housing to meet demand and tame skyrocketing prices. Consistent public school enrollment declines across the commonwealth mean that surplus school buildings in many communities could provide a significant number of affordable housing units – particularly for seniors.
But making these school-to-affordable senior housing conversions a reality at scale will require helping municipalities navigate the challenges the conversions pose.
Even as the state population has grown, reaching 7 million for the first time in the 2020 census, public school enrollment has declined by more than 100,000 since it peaked more than two decades ago.
The drop has been very dramatic in Boston; Boston Public Schools enrollment is more than 40 percent lower than in 1980 and 22 percent below the 2000 level.
Empty or under-utilized school buildings don’t generate revenue, pose a liability risk and are costly to maintain. If they’re not maintained, they will degrade, which brings another host of headaches. The alternative is to demolish the buildings – and that costs money, too.
Well-Suited for Conversion
Older school buildings that are more modest in scale often have characteristics that make them attractive for housing, such as wide hallways, large windows, high ceilings, wood floors and athletic fields that provide room for more units. They also rarely come with the challenges presented by many former industrial sites, such as soil contamination.
Former classrooms are also well-suited to conversion to the one-bedroom units that are dominant in affordable senior housing. This matters because as public-school enrollment shrinks, the number of older Americans is on the rise. People 65 and older made up 15 percent of the nation’s population in 2016 and are expected to account for 23 percent in 2060.
The sentimental value of buildings where many residents attended school back in the day can also soften NIMBY opposition to affordable housing. They’re already part of the neighborhood fabric, and newly converted housing units would generate far less traffic than the buildings did as schools.
“Few buildings have more meaning to people than their old schools,” said Jason Korb, principal of Capstone Communities LLC, who recalled a school conversion his company did. “Former students and staff attended the ribbon-cutting. The former principal’s family went up to where his office was. It was very emotional.”
But the conversions aren’t without challenges, and few municipalities have the expertise to navigate them efficiently. Creating an initiative under which entities such as MassHousing, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership or the Citizens Housing and Planning Association provide municipalities with direct technical assistance to streamline school-to-housing conversions and bring them to scale.
Designating properties as surplus can be a lengthy procedure. In Boston, the community engagement process alone can take more than six months.
Why Municipalities Need Assistance
Making the conversions happen in a timely manner requires navigating financial challenges about which most municipalities aren’t well informed. Making the numbers work also requires low-income housing tax credits and both state and federal historic preservation credits. Accessing the credits efficiently requires listing properties on state and national registers. As a result, cities and towns should be engaging the Massachusetts Historical Commission and other offices early in the process for these projects.
Another potential reform to scale this effort could be to prioritize or create set-asides for municipalities that partner with developers to apply for historic preservation credits.
“Resources ultimately drive the deal,” said Adam Stein, executive vice president at WinnCompanies. “Unfortunately, it is not enough just to make these properties available. Municipalities need to be housing advocates and partners by pulling together matching funds and tax incentives to make the conversions work.”
The Housing Bond Bill approved earlier this year doubles the annual funding for state historic preservation tax credits from $55 million to $110 million. The credits have been distributed in three rounds each year, with most projects needing to reapply multiple times. While the increased funding is still less than the demand, it should speed the process and make it more predictable, with fewer rounds and larger amounts allocated.
The ways in which municipalities could benefit from technical assistance on school-to-housing conversions aren’t just financial. While classrooms can often be smoothly converted to housing units, gyms and auditoriums are problematic. For example, finding a partner to use a gym as a recreation facility can also make conversions more feasible.
The combination of declining public-school enrollment, a rising number of older residents and new resources from the commonwealth’s housing bond bill supercharge an opportunity for school-to-affordable senior housing conversions to make housing more plentiful and affordable in Massachusetts. Realizing the potential these demographic and policy changes represent will require providing municipalities with the assistance they need to make the projects a reality.
Susan Gittelman is executive director of B’nai B’rith Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer currently working in Boston, Cambridge, MetroWest and the North Shore.
