Valley CDC support letter 3-11-22.docJACK HORNOR
46 Ladyslipper Lane, Florence, Massachusetts 01062-9735
March 13, 2022
Dear Community Preservation Committee Members,
I write to you as a Northampton resident since 1992, and also as the first chair of your committee, on which I served from 2007 to 2009. Let me start by thanking you for the work you
do, which each year makes life in Northampton better.
I have a longtime interest in affordable housing here. I served on the Housing Partnership and the State Hospital Citizens Advisory Committee, and I am familiar with the work of all
our housing non-profits, particularly Valley CDC.
In looking at the three program areas of the Community Preservation Act, there is no question in my mind about which is the most urgently needed today, and that is affordable housing.
It is a crisis across the nation, and it is a crisis here.
You have read the proposal for Valley to convert the Northampton Nursing Home into 60 apartments, each of which would fall into one of the categories for affordable housing. This is
a classic Valley project – to take a property which has fallen into disrepair and turn it into modern affordable housing. This project needs doing, and they are a great choice to
do it.
Certainly the project comes with a big price tag, $25 million overall and a request to the CPC for a million. But in terms of leveraging, the request is for only 4% of the project.
Back in 2007 and 2008, when we spent almost a year putting together the policies and procedures for the CPC to use, we put a strong emphasis on the need for project proponents to show
that CPC money would be helpful in getting additional money. The goal was to have CPC money only partially fund projects, not fully fund them. That has been a good policy from the
beginning and I am sure you will be considering it during your discussions.
Given the history of open debate in Northampton, you can certainly expect that some people will oppose this project on the grounds that the money is too much. But please consider the
numbers carefully. $1,000,000 will help get another $24,000,000. That is exceptional. And $1,000,000 will produce 60 housing units at a per unit cost for CPA taxpayer money of $16,666.
That is also exceptional.
I ask you to give this project your favorable recommendation.
Sincerely,