On June 3, Housing Assistance staff joined Massachusetts Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Edward Augustus on a tour of the LeClair Village apartment complex in Masphee, which is being developed by Housing Assistance and Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH).
Before the tour, Augustus met with local elected officials and housing advocates at the 39-unit project, which is nearing its opening in the fall.
“I want to thank you for really trying to understand how we’re different and how every part of the state is different,” Housing Assistance CEO Alisa Magnotta told Augustus. “I would invite you to please reach out to our experts, lean into our experts who have already done a housing plan for the region. We’ve studied what’s happened around the country. This is a big vision that represents a lot of what’s happening in the Commonwealth, and [Cape Cod is] the canary in the coal mine.”
Also taking part in the tour were State Representatives Dylan Fernandes and Kip Diggs, as well as Mary LeClair, the longtime Housing Assistance volunteer and housing advocate for whom the apartment complex is named.
“It really takes everybody working together, problem-solving,” Augustus said at the end of the tour through and around the complex’s three buildings. “How do we get the dollars necessary to make infrastructure improvements we need to do, or cobble together various financial sources to make a project? It’s not easy, it’s not quick.
We want to do everything we can to make it quicker and easier, but in the meantime, it is all about partnership. If we sit and reason together and we bring facts to the conversation, we can strike the right balance, protecting our environment and providing housing that people need. That’s what I’m taking away from today’s conversation.”
Located off Route 28, LeClair Village includes 14 one-bedroom apartments, 21 two-bedroom apartments and four three-bedroom apartments that will serve eligible applicants with an income at or below 60 percent of area median income (AMI) or 30 percent AMI. More than 100 people attended a Zoom information session in May to learn more about the application process.
After leaving LeClair Village, Augustus met with the Mashpee Housing Authority, marking his 43rd visit to a local housing authority. He said he plans to meet with all 231 across the state.
Earlier in the day, he was at Cape Cod Community College for one of 14 listening sessions held across the state to seek public input on the Healey administration’s five-year strategic housing plan for Massachusetts.
