Chelsea’s Community Preservation Committee is asking the City Council to approve $1,312,138 from the Community Preservation fund: six grants to local nonprofits and a $400,000 transfer to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. About $800,000 of it, roughly 61 percent, is for rental assistance, eviction prevention and affordable housing.
The recommendations are on the agenda for the council’s meeting on Monday, November 16, at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 500 Broadway, as order 26F65. The committee’s letter, dated October 28 and signed by chairperson Michelle Mirthes, is in the meeting packet the city posted Thursday afternoon.
The seven recommendations
- Sunflower Garden, Phase 2: $200,000. The Neighborhood Developers’ Community Enhancement Team would redesign and revitalize the community parcel known as the Sunflower Garden. The committee’s summary puts the total project cost at $872,352.
- Microforest and shade garden: $200,000. GreenRoots would turn a vacant city-owned parcel at 553A Washington Avenue into a microforest and shade garden. The summary says GreenRoots has a memorandum of understanding with the city for the parcel. Total project cost: $608,765.
- Chelsea Theatre Works facade: $112,138. The money would go to the final phase of a preservation project at 189 Winnisimmet Street, restoring the front of the building. The summary says the city’s Historic Commission has found the building to have local historic significance.
- Emergency rental assistance: $200,000. La Colaborativa would give short-term help with back rent to income-eligible Chelsea households that do not qualify for the state’s RAFT program or whose RAFT award is too small to keep them housed. Total project cost: $800,000.
- Eviction prevention and housing stabilization: $100,000. The Neighborhood Developers would help households facing eviction apply for RAFT and would offer flexible rental aid to cover the gap. The summary says the award would carry the program into 2028. Total project cost: $250,000.
- Rental assistance program: $100,000. CAPIC would provide rental assistance and security deposits to at-risk individuals and families in Chelsea. Total project cost: $100,000.
- Affordable Housing Trust Fund: $400,000. The allocation would give the trust’s board money to use in its own upcoming grant cycles for the support, preservation and production of affordable housing. The letter says the board has agreed to report its spending to the committee every quarter.
How the round worked
The committee opened its fall round in July and received eight project eligibility forms. Seven were found eligible and invited to apply in full, and six full applications came in by September. The committee voted on October 15 to recommend all six, plus the trust fund allocation. Each grant matches the amount the applicant requested.
The council can affirm, reject or lower each amount. The letter notes that the council may not increase a recommendation.
Two figures that do not match
The packet contains two versions of the appropriation order, and they differ on one line. The committee’s own draft and its letter list $100,000 for The Neighborhood Developers’ eviction prevention program. The order prepared for the council’s vote, 26F65, lists $200,000 for the same project. If the larger figure stood, the order would total $1,412,138, which is $100,000 more than the committee recommended.
A smaller mismatch involves Chelsea Theatre Works. The committee’s letter and both orders say $112,138. The project summary attached to the letter gives $112,318 as the request, the project cost and the allocation. The packet does not say which figure is correct.
Where the money comes from
Chelsea voters adopted the Community Preservation Act at the 2016 general election, with 66.5 percent in favor, according to the committee’s letter. The act adds a 1.5 percent surcharge to property tax bills, with exemptions for low-income and moderate-income homeowners and for the first $100,000 of a property’s value. The money can go to open space and recreation, historic preservation and community housing.
Under the committee’s order, the theatre grant would come from the fund’s historic reserve, $128,508 of the La Colaborativa grant from the community housing reserve, and $128,508 of the Sunflower Garden grant from the open space and recreation reserve. The rest would come from the fund’s budgetary reserve.
Full applications can be reviewed at the Department of Housing and Community Development at City Hall, the letter says. The rest of Monday’s agenda is in our preview.