HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-09-16 Affordable Housing Trust Minutes North Andover Affordable Housing Trust
Meeting Minutes
September 16, 2025
Present: Laurie Burzlaff, Richard Vaillancourt, Peter Koesterherm, Joyce Pinkham, Robert Bernardin,
and Janice Phillips.
Meeting was called to order at 5:OOPM in the Select Board Meeting Room at Town Hall.
Approve minutes of August 12,2025
Peter Koesterherm made a motion,seconded by Janice Phillips to approve the minutes ofAugust 12,
2025 as presented. Motion approved 6-0.
Update from Greater Lawrence Community Action Council regarding rental assistance program
Nelson Butten, Richard Robichaud, Kretcha Roldan and Ruthemily Silveira and Lisalie Paredes from
Greater Lawrence Community Action Council(GLCAC)were present to answer questions about the
program.
Kretcha described the intake process. Residents of the Town,persons with a place of work in the Town,
or with children in the Town's schools system, as well as homeless persons can apply. Once a potential
client applies,the client is entered onto a waitlist. GLCAC contacts clients on a first come/first serve
basis. If clients still have the need for support, they have 2 weeks to provide the required documentation.
Once documents are received, an intake appointment is scheduled. Upon successful review of the
documents and approval of the application, GLCAC schedules an inspection of the unit which typically
takes place within 2 weeks of the interview. If health and/or safety issues are identified,the Landlord has
30 days to correct these deficiencies. On average, the process takes a couple of months.
Right now there are 40 people on the waitlist. Approximately 2 people a month are accepted. Average
grant of$2,000 per month. There is approximately$100,000 left for North Andover, from 2021/23
HOMES funds, and the AHT Rental Assistance Program. GLCAC will provide the waitlist to the Town.
The Town will contact the persons on the waitlist to verify that they are still in need of services.
GLCAC has agreed to provide monthly financial reports to the Town.
GLCA pointed out that they cannot contact more clients on the waitlist than they can support with the
available funding. Given the average grant size and the duration of 12 months,upon approval GLCAC
must commit on average $24,000 per client. In addition, GLCAC "reserves"additional funding in order
to account for changes to the client's financial situation, e.g. through illness or job loss.
Amesbury has a similar program with a higher number of clients being processed. The difference between
Amesbury and North Andover is that Amesbury caps the grant size at S 1,500 per month. Trustees will
review the program and discuss instituting a cap at the next meeting.
Also,Amesbury uses town employees for inspections whereas GLCAC pays for commercial inspectors.
Laurie will speak with Community Development about the Town doing inspections. This would be a
huge benefit to the program.
Board reorganization
The Board agreed to not reorganize.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion for adjournment made by Peter Koesterherm seconded by Joyce Pinkham at 6:OOPM. Motion
approved 6-0.
MEETING MATERIALS:
Minutes