Unfair to small rural towns
Concord-based CATCH Housing took the town of Warner to court after the Planning and Zoning boards rejected its proposal last year to build a large apartment complex off Exit 9, decisions based on legal compliance and echoed by a housing survey, in which only eight of 400 town respondents supported a large apartment building.
CATCH Housing subsequently won the right to resume its proposal under new state guidelines adopted in March, overriding the decisions of two local boards and the expressed wishes of Warner residents. So much for local control.
CATCH CEO Tom Furtado said, “We believe Warner has a great need for affordable housing as approximately 53% of the working-age residents would qualify for the housing under the HUD guidelines, which is extremely high compared to other communities, and is evidence that Warner residents need the housing that we provide.”
Important questions remain unanswered: Will all units be dedicated to current Warner residents, given the identified local need? How does providing housing for a fraction of eligible residents benefit the community if it simultaneously increases the tax burden on the larger population of qualified residents and others?
CATCH plans to use the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and opt out of traditional market-value property assessments. Larger cities can better absorb the additional costs associated with population growth: fire and emergency services, welfare and local education tax. Small rural towns cannot.