Hingham veteran home faces
new hurdle before Town Meeting

Proponents for a veterans home in Hingham sponsored by Father Bill’s & MainSpring have a new hurdle to clear before townspeople can vote on the measure at Town Meeting. A five-person committee representing residents in the proposed home’s Fort Hill Street neighborhood, the Hingham Veterans Council, the Advisory Committee, the Hingham Housing Trust, and the Community Preservation committee will be formed to make sure the concerns of all “stakeholders” are addressed, said Kevin Paicos, the town administrator. The committee was formed after a private meeting Monday that included representatives from several of these groups, as well as the town's veterans agent and Paicos.

Supporters are hoping Town Meeting on April 26 will approve funds to help pay for the town's purchase of the property, which already has a residence. But Paicos said he wasn't sure whether the concerns of neighbors and various town agencies could be addressed before then.

“I wouldn’t make a guess either way,” he said.

This committee, which Paicos said will make the process move more smoothly, would work with representatives from Father Bill’s to address residents’ concerns and make recommendations for an agreement that would become a condition for the town's purchase of existing property.

Highest on his list of concerns is who decides who lives in the six-person home, said Jim Claypoole, the chairman of the Hingham Veterans’ Council who will sit on the five-person committee.

“I want to be assured on behalf of the town that we don’t have drug abusers, substance abusers, people with records,” he said in a phone interview from Florida.

Moreover, the location of the home is probably inappropriate, said Claypoole, because the lack of public transportation would prevent people from becoming self-sufficient. And Hingham may not have the resources to address the problems that some of these veterans may face.

“Do we have the capability to deliver the level of support that’s necessary to provide them the appropriate medical attention?” Claypoole said.

And, said Claypoole, who says he is a Korean War veteran, Hingham doesn’t have a homeless problem and so its efforts to support non-Hingham residents should be funded by the commonwealth, not the town.

“Society has a duty to pay for these guys. The question is, who pays for it?”

This is the second year in a row that a veterans’ home has been proposed at 111-113 Fort Hill Street. In 2009, a proposal by the Hingham Housing Authority and Veterans’ Agent Michael Cunningham for funding to acquire the property was rejected by the Community Preservation Committee because it lacked detailed plans and enough money.

After the 2009 Town Meeting, the Hingham Housing Authority approached Father Bill’s about a joint project at the home.

The home would house six veterans, selected by the Hingham Housing Authority and Father Bill’s. One of the six residents would be an in-house manager and resource for the other five. Father Bill’s & MainSpring has built similar properties in the South Shore and is expected to open an 18-unit home along a similar model in Brockton next month.

Father Bill’s does not need to seek the approval of the veterans’ council, the community preservation committee, the neighbors, or the town’s selectmen because the property has had a special permit for about 25 years to run a group home -- and the owner says a veteran lives there now.

However, Father Bill’s wants to seek $596,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, and to be competitive for the grant, Yazwinski said he needs to show the support of the community.

To that end, Father Bill’s & MainSpring requested $250,000 from the Community Preservation Committee, which was scheduled to vote on the proposal but says it has been waiting to get more feedback from the neighbors and the Veterans Council.

Should the CPC vote to award the funds, the decision would still need to be vetted by the Advisory Committee and selectmen before a Town Meeting vote. If all of this doesn’t happen before Town Meeting, then Paicos says it’s possible the warrant could allow for the town to approve the funds but leave the finer details to the selectmen.

“We don’t want to have to wait another year,” Paicos said.

The entire project is projected to cost just under $2 million – including $100,000 from private donors and $250,000 from the Hingham Affordable Housing Committee, according to the CPC application.

The home is expected to cost about $55,000 each year, funded primarily from federal funds for the individual veterans.

The plans for the site included demolishing the current building to build a new one, but the Hingham Historic Commission placed a demolition delay on the property.

Father Bill’s has missed the February deadline for state funding they had hoped to meet. “It’s really hard to get affordable housing because these processes are so detail-oriented,” Yazwinski said in a phone interview.

Yazwinski says he and his colleagues are optimistic they will work out a compromise in time to apply for funds from the state in the spring and said he will continue to work toward a compromise.

“People seem to be very supportive of the concept and the model but have a lot of questions, which we’re used to,” Yazwinski said.

Town Administrator Paicos said it is normal for Hingham residents to be so involved in the process.

“The fact there is a lot of people in Hingham who want to weigh in is quintessential Hingham,” he said.

Father Bill’s and the Housing Authority will hold two more public meetings on March 18 and March 25 at 6 p.m. at the HHA facility at 30 Thaxter Street.