SOUTHAMPTON — Voters approved establishing a municipal affordable housing trust at one of the most poorly attended special Town Meetings in the town’s recent history.
According to Town Clerk Luci Dalton, 66 people, or 1.5%, of registered voters attended Tuesday’s meeting, which featured a total of 15 articles on the warrant. Southampton has more than 4,400 residents registered to vote.
“This has got to be the quickest meeting I’ve been to since I’ve been here — we started at 7:04 and dissolved at 8:04,” Dalton said.
Last year’s meeting, which was also held in December, was attended by 170 registered voters, or 3.91%, of the voters in town. The October 2020 special Town Meeting had an attendance of 112 registered voters.
While Dalton said didn’t know why the meeting had such a low turnout, all of the articles were approved with little to no discussion.
The warrant article regarding the creation of an affordable housing trust was one of the most commented on at the meeting with several people speaking in favor of it. Although no one spoke in opposition of the article, one person voted against it.
Such trusts help municipalities create and preserve affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households. There are at least 135 communities in the state that have established a trust fund.
Creating affordable housing has been a high priority in the town’s Housing Production Plan and has also been a goal outlined in the town’s Master Plan, which was updated in 2021, said Select Board member Joy Piper, who also serves on the town’s Housing Authority.
“The creation of this trust will allow for flexibility to respond to situations where land or structure in town become available that might be appropriate and desirable for use as affordable housing property to meet statewide housing goals,” Piper said. “This affordable housing trust would be a strong tool in facilitating our goal.”
Currently, about 2% of the homes in Southampton are considered affordable, far below the state requirement of 10%.
Cindy Palmer, who serves on the town’s Planning Board, said that board members unanimously voted in favor of approving the article at a recent meeting.
“We’ve been considering zoning bylaw changes that would ultimately support affordable housing opportunities in our town. We know this is a big need,” said Palmer.
Funding for the housing trust can come from a number of sources, including Community Preservation Act funds. The entity could request a transfer of CPA funds, which will give the trust the ability to act quickly with property purchases. In order for the Housing Authority to purchase properties now, approval of the transfer of funds must be OK’d at town meeting.
Moving forward, the Select Board will appoint a board of five trustees who will govern the trust.
“Many individuals have worked to make this happen for over the last 10 years,” said Janet Cain, a member of the town’s Housing Authority. “I would like to thank Massachusetts Housing Partnership for their support and guidance, the Southampton Housing Authority, the Bylaw committee, the Select Board and the voters of Southampton for their support at the special Town Meeting.”
Voters on Tuesday also OK’d transfering $100,000 from the town’s community preservation surcharges account to the Southampton Greenway for the town’s local matching share of a Mass Trails grant. Approval of this article will allow the next step in the rail trail project, which the town has been pursuing for more than a decade and discussing its possibility for more than two decades.
Another article will create a bylaw marking town-owned vehicles with either the town seal or in the case of emergency vehicles, a police badge or fire Maltese Cross, and contrasting lettering that is visible and identifiable as town-owned.
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
