PETER J. MILLER
WESTFIELD – Community Development Director Peter J. Miller Jr., presented several new initiatives as part of his departmental budget review Wednesday with City Council members.
The proposed Community Development budget for the new fiscal year, as submitted by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, is actually a decrease from the current fiscal spending package. Miller submitted a budget to Knapik of $249,927, a decrease of more than 21 percent from the current 2014 budget of $318,299. Knapik further cut the budget by $7,599, resulting in a line item of $242,328.
Miller said he hope to launch a new imitative during the 2015 fiscal year to assist first-time homebuyers to stabilize the housing market in the city. Under that program first time homebuyers would, based upon income eligibility, receive $4,000 toward the down payment on a purchase of a house.
The homebuyer would have to remain in that residence for a least five years as a condition of the funding program.
Miller said that program would integrate homebuyer assistance into the city’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME program, both of which are under the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Participating jurisdictions may use HOME funds for a variety of housing activities, according to local housing needs. Eligible uses of funds include tenant-based rental assistance; housing rehabilitation; assistance to homebuyers; and new construction of housing. HOME funding may also be used for site acquisition, site improvements, demolition, relocation, and other necessary and reasonable activities related to the development of non-luxury housing. Funds may not be used for public housing development, public housing operating costs, or for Section 8 tenant-based assistance, nor may they be used to provide non-federal matching contributions for other federal programs, for operating subsidies for rental housing, or for activities under the Low-Income Housing Preservation Act. All housing developed with HOME funds must serve low- and very low-income families.
Miller said that another goal in the upcoming fiscal year is to certify the Community Development Department as a Homebuyer Counseling agency and a Rehabilitation Advisory Agency through MassHousing.
MassHousing is a self-supporting not-for-profit public agency, which has provided more than $16 billion in financing for homebuyers and homeowners, and for developers and owners of affordable rental housing.
MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars, but sells bonds to fund its programs. In recent years, MassHousing has also supported the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by contributing funds to offset budget cuts to state housing programs.
Miller said that he also plans to continue to investigate opportunities for market-rate housing development, especially downtown, and tools available to gateway cities to “incentivize further housing development in the city’s CORE district.” That effort is to develop higher rent housing downtown.
Miller and Jayne Armington of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission presented a report to the City Council last January dealing with diversifying the renal market in the CORE district.
“This is a draft report on market rate housing in the downtown,” Miller said, “with the intent to create a better ration of higher end housing. We’re trying to attract high-end quality housing without displacing anyone.”
Miller said during that January presentation that much of the current housing is categorized as affordable for residents with lower income, but there is little to attract residents with a higher income to live in the downtown. Many of those residents are currently living in homes with two, three and four bedrooms, but whose children no longer reside with them.
“The goal is to make the downtown a more vibrant area where people (with a higher income) would want to live,” Miller said. “It’s a small market. We recognize that the downtown has a number of affordable housing units, but also recognize that we need to bring in a more diverse population.”
Miller said that another goal is to certify the Community Development Department as a Homebuyer Counseling agency and a Rehabilitation Advisory Agency through MassHousing.
