Norwell takes steps to replace Housing Authority home
The Norwell Affordable Housing Trust has agreed to pay the $10,000 cost for the town’s Housing Authority to review a Prospect Street property where a home for developmentally disabled people could be relocated.
Members of the trust, the Housing Authority, and Community Preservation Committee met last Thursday to discuss plans to increase affordable housing in town. Topics included the housing authority’s plan to relocate the operations of Road to Responsibility, which serves mentally and physically disabled people across the South Shore.
The group has rented a home on Assinippi Avenue, near the Hanover border, for many years.
But the house is in such poor condition that the group balked at renewing its agreement to stay this year, and may not continue at the location, said Nancy Dooley, a member of the Housing Authority.
The town-owned, eight-bedroom house is old, needs extensive repairs, and does not meet modern requirements for developmentally disabled people, officials said. If Road to Responsiblity moves, the house could be demolished or sold.
“It’s not a proper facility for the people who live there,” said Dooley.
The Affordable Housing Trust, which uses Community Preservation Act money to buy, lease, maintain or improve property for affordable housing, has agreed to pay $10,000 for the Housing Authority to review whether the Prospect Road site is fit for construction. The review includes wetlands markings and septic system review.
Dooley said a state program called “House Doctor” pre-approves contractors to perform such reviews and eliminates delays associated with the regular bidding process. “We could have that site reviewed very quickly,” she said.
Selectmen several weeks ago voted to allow the Housing Authority to build on a one-acre, town-owned property on Prospect Street.
Dooley and Sharon Sylvester, the authority’s executive director, said it is too soon to tell how many bedrooms Road to Responsiblity might seek for the new house.
“We want as many as we can, but the real issue is the cost,” Dooley said. “Ideally, we would like to replace the eight bedrooms,” Dooley said.
Because of state regulations and construction requirements, the cost of building a new home ranges between $250,000 and $350,000 per bedroom, meaning that an eight-bedroom home built by the town would cost at least $2 million.
By comparison, officials said, Friendship Home, a private organization that serves developmentally disabled adults, is constructing a retreat on 1.5 acres in Norwell that is two to three times larger than an eight-bedroom house. Its cost is estimated at between $1.5 million and $3 million.
Another question is what to do with the Assinippi Avenue house. Officials said the house is owned by the town, but the property belongs to the state, and if the land is sold, the money goes back to the state.
Because the house is so rundown, officials said renovating is probably the most expensive option and not practical.
Officials said they would prefer to raze the house and rebuild, a plan that could appeal to the town and the state, especially since the town would not lose the eight bedrooms that count toward the town's supply of affordable housing.
Dooley and Sylvester said that to pay for constructing a new house on Prospect and possibly rebuilding one on Assinippi, they would seek grants and programs from the state to help defray as much of the cost as possible.
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