AFFORDABLE HOUSING DRAFT - Salisbury, CT

Housing Commission, who lives near one of the three developments, says, “All three properties haveproved to be assets to the community.” Barbara Bigos, Salisbury’s Tax Assessor, was asked if shethought the neighboring house values had gone down or would go down near affordable housing thathas been built in Salisbury. She said, “Absolutely not!” She said that she would not reduce theassessed value of a property just because it was next door to a new or renovated affordable home.12. Q: Housing Your Neighbors in Salisbury, 2020, the 2008 report of the Informal TaskForce on Affordable housing (ITF), estimated that Salisbury needs to build or convertapproximately 200 affordable housing units in order to meet the Town's demand for suchhousing. How was that estimate arrived at and what types of housing did the ITF say areneeded?A: The Informal Task Force estimated that approximately an additional 200 new orconverted units would be necessary to achieve a steady-state housing stock that could maintain thediverse population Salisbury enjoys today. The ITF stressed that not all of this increase would have tocome from new units; many units could be provided by conversion of single-family homes toapartments or duplex condominiums, for instance. And, a significant part of the total could beprovided by additional accessory apartments, which involve some new construction but are usually inthe footprint of existing buildings.The Informal Task Force estimated demand for four specific categories of affordable housing:1. “Workforce” (middle-income), 2. “Starter” (individuals or families in their 20s starting out); 3.“Senior”; and 4. “Low income rentals”, using population by age, income brackets, poverty rates,turnover rates, and anonymous data from the Sarum Village waiting list and the Salisbury SocialWorker. [For full details of their estimates, please see the ITF’s report, which can be found at“Salisbury Housing Report” on the Town of Salisbury website.]The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) in its 2010 report regrouped the ITF’sestimates using three annual household income groupings:Middle Income:Moderate Income:Low Income:Total:$60,000 - $90,000 -- 100 units$30,000 - $60,000 -- 66 unitsLess than $30,000 -- 42 units208 unitsFor planning purposes the AHAC grouped the unmet housing need by type, age group, incomelevel and number of units needed as follows:66