North Stonington residents learn more about affordable-housing possibilities
North Stonington — A public forum Thursday saw a handful of residents turn out to learn more about what a nonprofit housing trust could offer those interested in getting affordable housing off the ground in town.
A question-and-answer session led by Lesley Higgins-Biddle, senior program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corp. — which provides assistance for groups interested in developing affordable housing — laid out the options.
Affordable Housing Committee Chairwoman Mary Ann Ricker said the trust, which would be independent from the town and housing board, would provide another avenue for those who want to bring affordable housing to town.
Higgins-Biddle said nonprofits typically emerge for three reasons: a religious mission; aiding a municipality, as the Affordable Housing Committee has done to incentivize affordable housing; and when a particular site without a use comes on the market.
She said the process includes getting a core group of people, defining a mission and going through that process — incorporating as a nonprofit and filing as a 501(c)(3) organization with IRS. She said it takes anywhere from three to six months to get the group of people to incorporate and longer for the IRS to approve the nonprofit process.
The advantage of forming a local organization is that the group has roots in the community, so it would know best what the populace needs for housing stock, what design would fit into the town character, as well as having the investment in the town to manage the project effectively if and when it’s built.
“When groups decide to do it, a local element becomes persuasive,” Higgins-Biddle said.
The Affordable Housing Committee has been working diligently to develop a proposal for affordable housing on a parcel of town-owned property on Wintechog Hill Road. A nonprofit theoretically could develop any property sold to it, and Higgins-Biddle said there are quite a few resources at the state level for affordable housing.
Higgins-Biddle said while that process around the town-owned property should be plan A, plan B, in which the town forms a nonprofit, could happen concurrently.
“It’s kind of like making us a nonprofit developer,” committee member Robert Mead said. “You still have to go through the same process..."
Committee members agreed they would get sample documents from Higgins-Biddle and explore the issue further.
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