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Somerville Community Corp's Affordable Housing Organizing Committee and Jobs for Somerville submitting comments re: #204399, #204400, #204524, and #204525, proposals for affordable housing and jobs linkage fees.
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To the Honorable Board:
On behalf of SCC's Affordable Housing Organizing Committee (AHOC) and Jobs for Somerville, I am writing to request your support for the Citizens Petitions* on Housing and Jobs Linkage.
As you know, a Nexus study <https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/Somerville_Nexus_Final%20Report_9_8_17%20%282%29.pdf> commissioned by the City's OSPCD was recently completed, for the purposes of recommending revisions to the City's housing linkage program, and to establish an initial rate and payment schedule for the new jobs linkage program, pursuant to the State Legislature's adoption of our Home Rule petition.
With respect to housing linkage, the study recommended increasing the housing linkage rate from the current $5.15 per square foot of new commercial development (excluding the first 30,000 sq. ft.) to between $8.00 and $10.00 per square foot (with the same 30,000 sq. ft. exclusion), and reducing the timeframe for completing linkage payments from the current five years to three years.
With respect to jobs linkage, the study recommended setting the rate between $2.00 and $2.50 per square foot of new commercial development, excluding the first 15,000 sq. ft. of development, and recommended that payment be made in full by the developer upon receipt of a building permit.
Although the study indicated that, for example, a housing linkage rate in excess of $19.73 per square foot and a jobs linkage rate of up to $2.69 per square foot would be needed to fill the financing gap to create the affordable housing and employment assistance needed to mitigate new commercial development, the author recommended that the combined housing-plus-jobs linkage rates be between $10.00 and $12.50 per square foot of commercial development to protect Somerville's competitive position.
As described in the attached fact sheet, the Citizen's Petitions propose rates at the higher end of the Nexus Study recommendation and the more compressed payment timeframe recommended by that study, so that the linkage payments will be more impactful. The Mayor's legislative proposal calls for rates at the lower end of the Nexus Study recommendation, and for a more protracted payment schedule.
We hope you will support passage of the rates and timeframe recommended in the Citizens' Petition, and look forward to making our case and answering any questions at Monday's public hearing.
Thank you for your attention to this pressing matter. Have an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend.
Fred Berman