Housing info session held ahead of Perry Street project completion

LAKEVILLE — Two new affordable houses on Perry Street are nearly ready.

Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity Director Jocelyn Ayer was joined by representatives of local affordable housing coalitions for an informational session on April 10 to offer an update on the project and several other near-complete projects across the county.

The Perry Street homes, modular units which were placed atop their foundations on April 2, are part of a regional effort from the LCCHO called the Litchfield County Affordable Homeownership Program.

A total of nine 3-bedroom homes — all modular and Cape-style — across five Northwest Corner towns will be the product of the project, built on land owned and managed by the Salisbury Housing Trust, Cornwall Housing Corporation, Foundation for Norfolk Living, and Washington Community Housing Trust.

The Perry Street houses are the first to be delivered — and “they look amazing,” Ayer said.

The project is expected to be ready for residents in May. The deadline for pre-application was April 15.

Two homes on Town Street in Cornwall are next in line, with a pre-application deadline of April 30 and a prospective move-in date this summer.

The LCCHO is also now accepting pre-application forms, which may be received by emailing Lindsay Larson at LindsayL@thehousingcollective.org, for the rest of the properties, although has yet to set deadlines.

Ayer said that the rest of the homes — two more in Salisbury, one more in Cornwall, one in Washington and one in Norfolk — will likely be finished in the fall and winter.

Applicants must be first-time homebuyers and must have an income at or below 100% of the county’s Area Median Income, which is approximately $80,000 for one-person and rises by about $11,400 per additional household member. Strong preference will be given to households of three or more.

The homes are valued between $255,000 and $290,000, but with a down payment assistance loan that will cut $25,000 from that total.

Ayer explained each housing non-profit that owns the properties will continue ownership over the actual land parcel, while the homeowner will own just the actual building and its footprint.

When Ayer opened the floor to questions, several audience members in the Zoom room asked about the unique ownership paradigm, which Ayer explained is a “shared-equity” model that is designed to keep costs down.

The cost of constructing and installing each unit is approximately $500,000 dollars, Ayer said, but the homeowner is only responsible for the taxes of the property directly beneath the house. Karen Sunnarborg, secretary of the Salisbury Housing Trust, maintained that taxes will be based on the purchase price, not construction costs.

Attendees also asked about property improvements and how such projects would fit into the shared equity model, to which Ayer replied that they are possible, but anything substantial, such as a perimeter fence, would have to be reviewed by the non-profit that owns the parcel.

The idea is to keep the property value low enough that the house remains affordable for future buyers — i.e. no pools, she said.

The final question came from Melissa Wagner, who asked whether a chicken coop may be approved to be built on the property. “With this economy, eggs are important,” she said, though Ayer said zoning regulations may have the final say, not to mention bears, foxes and bobcats, added Town Street resident Susan Francisco.