Prospective tenants see delays in affordable housing process

Applicants for income-restricted units at a local rental development must wait until this summer for the next steps in the approval process.

Located at 79 Pond St., Alexan Waltham is a six-story apartment complex being built through the Chapter 40b statute by Trammell Crow, an international housing developer.

Chapter 40b is a state statute that allows local Zoning Boards of Appeals (ZBA) to speed up the approval process for proposed housing developments where at least 20 to 25% of units are deemed affordable by metrics from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

This is done by granting developers comprehensive permits that bypass local bylaws that regulate zoning, storm and water management and historical districts.

What is affordable?

HUD annually sets the rent limits for these apartments based on the area’s median income (AMI) adjusted for household size.

The AMI for Waltham is calculated for a region that includes Boston, Quincy, Cambridge, Newton and other communities in Greater Boston.

According to Chapter 40b, affordable is defined as rent that does not exceed 30% of a household’s income.

Alexan Waltham will feature a total of 210 units. Thirty-nine of these units are meant for families or individuals making at or below 80% of the AMI and 14 units are meant for people making at or below 60% of the AMI.

Income limits and rent prices for the affordable units can be found in our prior article on the development.

The Lottery

As with other affordable 40b housing units, applicants are picked through a lottery system.

SEB Housing LLC, an affordable housing consulting group, ran the lottery on March 4.

“There were 890 applications for this lottery,” said Katharine Kaplan, the project coordinator for SEB Housing. 

Applicants had from Dec. 16 to Feb. 17 to apply for the units.

The number of applications SEB Housing received for each type of affordable unit is as follows:

• 80% AMI units:
  • 100 applications for studio apartments
  • 277 applications for one-bedroom apartments
  • 186 applications for two-bedroom apartments
  • 128 applications for three-bedroom apartments

• 60% AMI units:
  • 381 applications for one-bedroom apartments
  • 255 applications for two-bedroom apartments
  • 150 applications for three-bedroom apartments

Each type of unit has a separate waiting list. Larger households are given priority on the waiting list for two- and three-bedroom units. This is to ensure that households with more members are given adequate space.

Applicants who live in Waltham, work full-time in Waltham, work for the city or have children who attend Waltham Public Schools are given priority for 70% of the affordable units.

During the lottery, Kaplan entered applicants into a list randomizer on random.org.

Then, the list was sorted to give certain households priority, and applicants received an email with their spot on the waiting lists the following day.

Next steps

But the lottery is just one step in the process.

Applicants were only required to self-report their income. Once contacted by the leasing office, they will need to provide income verification and complete reference and background checks. If applicants decide not to rent the apartments or are deemed ineligible, another person can move up the waitlist and take their spot.

Typically, top applicants are contacted by the building’s leasing office immediately after the lottery to schedule a tour and verify their eligibility, but there have been some delays in this process.

According to the information packet given to lottery applicants, SEB Housing said these units would be ready to lease this month. But during the lottery, Kaplan explained that Trammell Crow ran into “unexpected delays at the property,” meaning that the apartments could not be leased until June.

Kaplan told The Times that the developer did not specify what these delays entailed, but said that delays in this process are common and are sometimes associated with construction.