Affordable Homes Act will produce thousands of new homes: How will this affect Gardner?

The Greater Gardner area is not alone when it comes to residents and municipalities struggling to combat the housing crisis as more and more families are desperately searching for affordable homes.

The housing crisis, an influx of migrants seeking shelter, and a growing scarcity in the real estate market are all impacting municipalities across the state, and the Healey-Driscoll Administration plans to increase housing production and invest in livable communities with the Affordable Homes Act in the next five years.

The state's housing crisis is caused by the low vacancy rates in the real estate market, high real estate prices, and increasing homelessness. State Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities, Ed Augustus, said the bill focuses on housing production to close the vacancy rate gap and take pressure off the real estate market.

The Affordable Homes Act is expected to produce 40,000 to 45,000 new housing units and preserve 27,000 affordable housing units across the state in the next four to five years.

"If you're a renter or a first-time homebuyer, you have very little power in this market because the power is in short supply and high demand," he said. "If you're a renter or you're a prospective homebuyer, you have very little power in this market. The power dynamic is all upside down."

In the past few years, Augustus said, the Mass population has lost 110,000 residents in the 26 and 35-year-old demographic due to the state's lack of affordable housing units. He said the solution is to fund and boost more opportunities for developers to build more housing all across the Commonwealth.

"People are finding that they're having to spend 40% to 50% of their income on housing, and they feel they can't buy a house in Massachusetts, so they're looking in other states to do that," he said. "They have the opportunity to take a job in North Carolina or Texas, or someplace else that's only 30% of their income."

How does this affect Gardner?

In August, the Housing Secretary visited the city of Gardner and got a tour of downtown Gardner, where many housing units are under construction.

Augustus said the bill supports the conversion of vacant office and commercial spaces into housing units. He said this allows municipalities to reuse vacant buildings and preserve historic buildings that would have been torn down.

More: Housing chief Augustus welcomes Worcester's accessory dwelling unit policy, talks housing

"Particularly downtown Gardner is primed for that," he said. "It's allowing you to put density where you want."

The future of migrants in Greater Gardner

In the past year, the Commonwealth has welcomed more than 3000 migrant families searching for safe temporary shelter. Locally, both the city of Gardner and the town of Westminster shelter migrant families in local hotels.

The Healey-Driscoll administration is currently requesting that the Biden administration expedite work authorizations for the thousands of migrants ready to work. Augustus said the sooner the migrants have the ability to work, the faster they can get out of temporary housing.

He said allowing the migrants to work is a huge gain for the state; by putting more people in the workforce and reducing labor shortage, it would help those employers are desperate for labor.

"Those migrant families don't have to stay in those shelters long-term if they have work authorization to allow them legally to get a job," he said. "We know their resourcefulness because they left Haiti or often go through Central and South America too, so we know they are resourceful and resilient workers that any employer would be anxious for."

Where does all the money go?

The housing bill, unveiled on Saturday, Oct. 18, distributes $4 billion to 18 different state programs, grants, initiatives, and funds that create and provide affordable housing opportunities throughout the Commonwealth.

Augustus said 80% of the bill targets moderate-income individuals, and 50% of the housing bill specifically targets extremely low-income individuals.

Out of the funding, $1.6 billion is allocated to rehabilitate and modernize over 43,000 public housing units across the Commonwealth. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund receives $800 million from the bill to continue the preservation of affordable housing for families and individuals whose incomes are not more than 110% of the area median income. This trust fund also includes $50 million for MassDreams to support first-time homebuyers in disproportionately impacted communities.

Augustus said homeless shelters should be brief and temporary, but the people are stuck in these shelters because there aren't any affordable housing vacancies. He said the bill also funds to expand and preserve transitional units for residents recovering from substance use disorder.

Over $270 million is going towards programs and funds that include creating more transitional units with support systems for residents recovering from substance use disorder.

"Creating units of housing alone is often not enough. If you look at the bill, we got a lot of varieties of housing," he said. "They need supportive wraparound services in order to keep them rehouse."

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Housing Secretary Ed Augustus discusses Affordable Housing Act