Newton, known as the Garden City, is six miles west of Boston. Originally, a part of Cambridge, Newton was settled in 1630 and incorporated in 1688. With an area of 18.33 square miles, Newton is home to 82,585 people in 13 diverse neighborhoods.
Newton's Consolidated Plan: Newton has $1,124,000 for housing rehabilitation, $781,000 for housing development, $237,000 for architectural access, $233,000 for public facilities, $462,000 for human services, $91,000 for homeless assistance, and $445,000 for administration. The total for the Consolidated Plan is $3,373,000.
Citizens made three comments on the 1995 Newton Consolidated Strategy and
Plan, and the Community Development staff responded to the three comments.
While Newton's housing is excellent, affordability and availability pose serious problems for low income residents. The median price of a house was $293,400 according to the 1990 Census compared to $81,200 in the 1980 Census. In the second quarter of 1993 the price was $272,000. Most Newton residents could not purchase the homes they occupy today.
When middle income families who used to buy homes cannot, they rent, driving
up prices and preventing lower income people from renting. The median rent in
Newton nearly tripled, going from $322 in 1980 to $809 in 1990, while the
Consumer Price Index increased fifty percent. Although rental housing increased
from 8,949 units in 1980 to 9,158 units in 1990, it merely returned to the 1970
level. Condominium conversions and new construction decreased rental housing
during the boom period of the 1980's. When workers cannot afford to live in an
area, jobs go unfilled and employers have incentive to move.
Housing demand depends on population, primarily at the household forming ages of 25 to 44. Although Newton's population is declining, growth is occurring in the 35 to 44 age bracket. Changes in population say Newton is becoming a city of second-time buyers, as first time buyers are priced out. The 20 to 34 age group declined while the 35 to 54 age group had the only significant increase, gaining nearly 4,000 while school-age children declined sharply, by over 3,000. Now school age population is growing, and two schools that were closed in the 1980's are opening. Couples are having children later in life.
The 11,000 college students in Newton, a 2% increase from 1980, have a significant effect on the rental market because of the shortage of dormitories. Boston College alone sends in 7,000 full-time students.
Housing units in Newton are predominantly old, single family, owner-occupied and expensive. Of the 30,500 units of housing in the 1990 Census, Newtonians built 40 percent before the adoption of zoning in 1923. They built another 33% before 1945 and 23% from 1945 until 1960. Under 5% are less than thirty years old. Over 65% of homes are single family, while 25% are in two to four family structures and 10% are in apartments. Owners occupy 71% of housing units, a trend that has grown during the past decade of condominium conversion and development. Building permits reveal that 30% of new units have been singles while 50% have been in structures with five or more units.
Extremely low income households, those below 30% of median family income, have a difficult time living in Newton where the median family income is $70,000. Extremely low income is under $15,390 for a family of four. Over 7.6 percent of Newton's households or 2,234 are extremely low income. All low income people would qualify for housing assistance, but only 30% of poverty level families get help. The Census reveals that 71% of extremely low-income households have housing problems, with 70% spending over 30% of their incomes on housing and 51% spending over 50% of their income on housing.
Very low income households, those earning below 50% of the median, number 1,673 households, almost 5.7%. About 64% have housing cost burden and 35% pay over half their income on housing.
Low income households, earning below 80% of median income, make up 1,919 or 6.5% of Newton's households. Families below median income but above the limit for rent subsidies find it hard to afford market rents. They often have to leave Newton to find affordable housing. The projection is that this segment of the population will continue to shrink in Newton.
According to the 1990 U. S. Census, Newton has 196 homeless persons. Not having an emergency shelter, most of Newton's homeless go to the area's regional facilities at the Bristol Lodge Men and Women's Shelter & Soup Kitchen in Waltham. Newton has 24 homeless families with 56 persons. The city has two transitional housing projects that serve 10 mothers and their children for up to 24 months. This year the shelters turned away 20 families or have them on waiting lists.
Newton has 1,643 units of assisted housing in which occupants pay up to 30% of their income for rent with government programs making up the difference. Housing for the elderly accounts for 55%, with families having access to 35%, and 10% for people with particular special needs.
The Newton Housing Authority accounts for about one-third of the assisted housing, or 620 units. Of these, 530 are SRO or one-bedroom units for the elderly or people with special needs, and 90 are two or three-bedroom family units. Support for many of these units comes from Newton's 10% ordinance, which requires that developers given zoning relief provide 10% of projects over 10 units to affordable housing or a cash contribution. The Housing Authority has over 400 names on waiting lists, mostly closed, for subsidized apartments. Two other organizations have similar lists and long waits.
Many assisted apartments, particularly for families, are so-called "leased" housing subject to annual renewal by private landlords. They represent almost one-third of assisted units and are sensitive to government funding and attitudes. This funding is barely holding constant so that inflation will reduce the number of units assisted over time. Units subsidized by the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program were hit by cuts of $200 per month and the recent introduction of a flat subsidy amount creates hardships for tenants and disincentives for landlords.
A critical constraint on housing supply in Newton is the lack of developable land. About 1,400 vacant lots are in private ownership, but only 150 with capacity for 500 units meet local zoning standards. Oversized lots could provide additional housing through subdivision.
Newton's Village Study estimated that the City could add 763 units in village centers by rezoning commercial sites. Little incentive is present to turn any of these sites into affordable housing. The major holders of undeveloped land in Newton are educational and religious institutions.
Newton certified that it will affirmatively further fair housing, prepare an analysis of impediments and maintain records on carrying out this certification.
About 29,000 units built before 1960 are likely to have lead paint and/or asbestos and other hazards, such as outdated wiring and dangerous heating sources. There are about four cases of lead poisoning each year. The Health Department provides lead paint inspections and refers all cases to the Newton Housing Rehabilitation Fund for deleading work.
Newton conducted a survey of human services needs. The highest priority needs for children were day care, abuse and neglect services, and mental health services. For adolescents the highest priority needs were health services, substance abuse prevention and a drop-in center. Mental health services and domestic violence were the highest priority needs of adults. The highest priority family needs are services for parenting skills, substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, abuse/neglect and family support. The highest priority elderly needs are services for transportation, abuse/neglect and mental health. Also those with mental retardation and mental disability have substantial unmet needs.
Newton is also strongly committed to architectural access for people with disabilities. Newton provides concentrated community assistance to the three neighborhoods with the greatest concentration of low and moderate income persons: Nonantum, Newton Corner and West Newton.
Identification of needs is the beginning of the coordination process. City
departments, citizens, non-profits, agencies, advisory committees and the
housing authority identify needs. The Community Development staff then
consolidates and organizes the identified needs. The community development
staff consults with advisory committees on neighborhoods, human services, and
access. Priority projects are then developed for presentation to the Planning
and Development Board. Its findings are given to the Mayor who then develops
and submits an action plan to the Board of Alderman. The process then goes to
HUD for funding approval and resources. The CD staff caries out program and
project delivery that goes to citizens, non-profits, agencies, and the Housing
Authority.
Newton seeks to improve the quality of the housing, physical, economic and social environments through a variety of projects that primarily benefit low and moderate income persons and families or that remove slums and blights.
Newton wants:
Newton seeks:
| Priority 1: | Preserve existing affordable rental housing and add units to protect people at risk of homelessness and/or displacement for very low and low income renters. |
| Priority 2: | For very low income and low income homeowners, preserve affordable housing and add units to protect existing owners and provide opportunities for renters to become owners. |
| Priority 3: | Assist elderly and special-needs serviced housing for very low income/low income elderly and special needs residents. |
| Priority 4: | Develop housing for sale to first-time buyers for low income who rent but want to own a home. |
| Priority 5: | Expand the capacity of non-profit housing developers and low-income tenants for all very low and low income residents. |
All funding resources from the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be used for programs and projects that will provide the maximum benefit to low, very low and extremely low income persons.
| CDBG | $2,803,000 | |
| Program Income | 275,000 | |
| HOME | 204,473 | |
| ESG | 91,000 | |
| State | 280,000 | |
| City | 281,365 | |
| Private | 3,000,000 | |
| Section 8 | 2,500,000 |
The Planning Department administers CDBG and HOME funds with the approval of the Mayor and advice of the Planning Board and Housing Partnership. The City is the lead community for the consortium of Brookline, Newton, Waltham and Watertown. The four communities meet monthly to work on administrative matters and exchange project ideas and information. Newton works with the state and federal agencies when project funds are available, and provides information fund availability to the network of non-profits.
The Planning Department, which staffs the Newton Community Development
Authority, also works with the Newton Housing Authority and a wide range of
not-for-profit organizations and for-profit developers to produce affordable
housing.
The Action Plan contains 57 projects in 7 general categories:
| Housing Rehabilitation: | 3 | |
| Housing Development: | 6 | |
| Architectural Access: | 8 | |
| Public Facilities: | 5 | |
| Human Services: | 25 | |
| Administration: | 3 | |
| Homeless Assistance: | 7 |
The largest projects are:
The Action Plan programs $3,373,473.
Most of the larger programs are city-wide with an emphasis on low-mod income neighborhoods. Most of the smaller programs are in low-mod income neighborhoods.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects; in addition, a table depicts information about the project(s).
MAP 6 depicts Neighborhood Segements and streets with proposed HUD funded projects.
