A member of the Barrington Town Council has an idea that she hopes will expand the town’s stock of affordable housing. 

At a meeting late last month, Annelise Conway suggested the town offer a tax incentive to older residents who agree to deed-restrict their homes as affordable housing. Conway’s idea garnered a warm welcome from fellow councilors and one resident.

Council President Carl Kustell said just over 3 percent of Barrington’s total housing stock qualifies as affordable — that is well below the 10 percent goal created by the state. And officials are concerned that it may be difficult to increase the 3 percent figure, as much of Barrington is already built out. 

The struggle is illustrated through the town’s affordable housing down-payment assistance program. Two years ago Barrington established the program and funded it with $500,000 in taxpayers’ money. But not a single dollar has been used to date. 

The program has a series of requirements, including a limit on the maximum purchase price: $263,938 for a one-bedroom home; $298,809 for a two-bedroom; $332,600 for a three-bedroom; and $360,312 for a four-bedroom. 

Conway said the issue is that there needs to be affordable homes going on the market, and that is not happening in Barrington. 

The Councilor said there are homes in town that would qualify — smaller homes. She said some of those homes are owned by older residents and she believes Barrington could increase its stock of affordable housing if the town traded tax relief for a deed restriction. 

Conway said that approach would also limit the segregation of affordable housing in Barrington — instead of clustering the affordable housing in larger developments, it would be spread throughout all of Barrington. 

The Council member wants to complete an inventory of how many deed-restricted homes there are in Barrington and how many more the town needs to hit the 10 percent mark. 

Conway said the program would also allow seniors to remain in their homes, amid ever-increasing tax bills. 

Council member Kate Berard liked the idea, and longtime Barrington resident TR Rimoshytus agreed with the idea of keeping senior citizens in town. 

Do not touch the $500K

The affordable housing discussion started with a request. 

During the July 24 meeting, Town Planner Teresa Crean asked the Council for permission to use $30,000 from the $500,000 affordable housing down-payment assistance program to hire a consultant. 

Crean said the consultant could assist the town on matters of affordable housing; specifically, that person could help document the barriers to the down-payment assistance program, complete a needs assessment, and contribute to the updating of the town’s comprehensive plan. 

Crean said the town’s Planning, Building and Resiliency Department lacks expertise in the field of affordable housing and often relies heavily upon the Housing Board of Trustees. 

Council members said they supported the idea of hiring a consultant in that field, but questioned the funding source.

Berard took a moment to read the language used when establishing the fund. 

“The method for funds being requested is not the method for which the funds were granted…” she said. 

Berard said the idea for a consultant was good, but she did not know about taking the $30,000 from the $500,000 down-payment assistance account. 

Conway agreed. She said the specific purpose of that fund was to make money available to people from outside of Barrington and to expand diversity. Conway later suggested the town look into alternative sources for the funding, possibly grants or the East Bay Community Action Program or the Spencer Trust. 

Kustell said he supported the call for assistance to town administrators, but understood the questions about the funding source.

Rimoshytus said town officials could, at a future financial town meeting, re-work the language included with the down-payment fund. That might open the door for using those funds for something other than that program.

Rimoshytus also suggested that the contract resilience planner hired earlier at that meeting to assist Planning, Building and Resiliency could help with the affordable housing matters.  

$60,000 for consultant

Earlier in the meeting, the Town Council unanimously approved a $60,000 expenditure to hire a contract resilience planner to help the Planning, Building and Resiliency Department with certain tasks, including management of FEMA programs. 

The town issued a request for qualifications and received one response — it was from Karlo Berger, who had already been serving as a resilience intern for the town. Barrington will pay Berger $45 per hour.

Money for the contract will come from the Climate Mitigation Capital Reserve account.