Taft Avenue Affordable Housing

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Taft Avenue

Location:

54 Taft Avenue, West Newton, MA 02465

Goals:

Rehabilitate and expand a small, existing single-family home in West Newton to create two units of permanently affordable rental housing: a 3-bedroom unit affordable to households at 80% of area median income, and a 2-bedroom unit affordable to households at 50% of area median income.

Funding:

$584,029	CPA funds appropriated (housing)
$380,000	CDBG funds allocated (Newton-controlled federal housing funds)
$125,000	HOME funds allocated (Newton-controlled federal housing funds)
$81,700	Private foundation grant and community fundraising
$1,170,729	Total Project Cost

Contact:

Jennifer Van Campen, Executive Director
Citizens for Affordable Housing Development in Newton Organization (CAN-DO)
79-B Chapel Street
Nonantum, MA 02458
jvc@metrowestcd.org
617-923-3505

Funding Process:

5 November 2014 - Pre-proposal to the CPC, including: project summary, maps, photos, draft budgets, site & floor plans
9 January 2015 - Full proposal to the CPC:
- Main proposal (with map, budgets, additional information, funding sources)
- Project budgets only (repeated from main proposal above)
- Maps, photos & plans (neighborhood context, floor plans & elevations, scope of construction work, architect's qualifications)
- Project sponsor - general information (mission, Board of Directors, past project portfolio, policies for affirmative marketing and reasonable modification or accommodation for accessibility)
- Project sponsor - financial information (latest audited financial statement, current-year budget, projected next-year budget)
- Proposal background:
  - Home inspection report (28 October 2014) This large document may load slowly.
  - Property record in Newton Assessors Database (downloaded 24 November 2014)
  - Independent property appraisal commissioned by the CPC (submitted 20 December 2014)
- Proposal analyses & evaluations:
  - Letter from Newton Housing Partnership supporting requested federal funding (2 January 2015)
  - Memo & presentation from Planning & Development Department Housing staff (3 & 12 February 2015, for the CPC)
  - Note: The CPC declined to incorporate the special conditions recommended in this memo and presentation into their funding recommendation for this project, below. However, the City of Newton included modified versions of these recommended conditions in the legal agreements governing the project's federal (CDBG and HOME) funds.
  - Independent underwriting analysis required for federal HOME funds (updated 12 January 2015)
Received through 11 February 2015 - Community letters & petitions submitted about this proposal
12 February 2015 - Project sponsor's slide presentation to the CPC public hearing
23 February 2015 - CPC funding recommendation
6 April 2015 - Board order (appropriation)