Attendees at Essex public forum on housing "voted" by placing stickers next to which higher-density housing formats they'd like to see more of in their community.
Does Essex have the housing stock required to accommodate changing needs?
The answer, according to experts at a public forum on housing last Wednesday, titled “Making Essex a Place to Call Home: Housing Needs and Choices in Essex,” is no: not by a long shot.
But Essex is not alone in its housing challenges. In fact, those attending Wednesday’s forum hosted by Essex Town Planner Matt Coogan with panelists Chris Kluchman of Massachusetts Housing Choice Program and Peggy Hegarty-Steck of Action, Inc., and Dana LeWinter of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, learned that most towns in the Commonwealth are facing the same hard demographic truth. Attendees heard the Baby Boomer segment (those born from 1946 to 1964) is disproportionately aging the general Massachusetts population and those Boomers are beginning to empty their nests, retire and simplify their lives en mass. At the same time, the other large population segment, Millennials, a.k.a. the “Delay Generation” (those born from 1981 to 1996), are beginning their family years and entering home ownership. Both generations are at the core of the state’s looming housing problem—too many single-family homes and not enough multi-family or modest single-family homes that are perfect for those starting out and those scaling down after empty nesting.
With that as the backdrop, Essex officials proposed a master plan that linked housing solutions with the development of a comprehensive five- to 10-year economic plan for proper growth in Essex. This “Master Plan” is the product of thoughtful study that began back in 2015 with, “Planning to Preserve the Best of Essex, continued in subsequent years by addressing strategies to strengthen the Essex business community, later focused on parking in the village center and, then finally, conducted a downtown zoning study. To further that study, the Town recently secured state grants to fund housing consulting specialists as well as economic planning. In 2018 the town created a formal Essex Economic Development Committee, bringing together local business representatives with former town board members and Coogan.
On Wednesday, Coogan confirmed that Essex’s challenges mirror those at the state level. The town’s population is aging and most (more than 75 percent) of its housing inventory are single-family homes; reflecting historical constraints on housing development. Small two-bedroom starter homes so prevalent in the 1950s were long ago upgraded or replaced with bigger houses. The “magic middle” (three- or four-family houses) are now rare. (In fact, multifamily housing between three and nine units comprise only ten percent of Essex’ housing stock, according to US Census data.) In fact, according to US Census data, 10 percent of Essex’s housing is two-family units; 10 percent is 3- to 9-unit housing; and six percent is housing with more than 10 units. In other words, housing formats for the new homeowner or the downsizing homeowner is woefully small. According to MAPC, rental housing stock in Essex was 27.5 percent in 2000. By 2018, it went down to 25.9 percent.
At the same time, the resident population in Essex has grown pretty dramatically—18 percent from 2000 to 2019, with an additional three percent expected over the next three years, according to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), a grant-funded regional planning agency working on Essex’s economic development plan, set to be finalized midyear. This, combined with the community’s historic constraints on new development means housing has become cost prohibitive for many. Coogan said Essex needs more available housing in order to attract younger families and provide suitable housing for seniors on fixed incomes, and more than anything else, he said, Essex faces a mandate to widen or diversify the types of housing options for residents. Alex Koppelman, an MAPC housing and land use planner, added that Essex housing options are currently and dramatically, limited. With the median value of a single-family home in Essex $578,000 and the median value of a condominium is $367,000, those who can’t find a rental face a down payment hurdle of $116,000 and 73,000 to purchase that median single-family home or condo in order to stay in Essex or move here. That’s steep business, especially for those on a fixed income or those trying to get a start in home ownership.
MAPC’s initial housing report submitted last week concluded: “There are fewer renters in Essex than the Commonwealth because a lack of housing types other than single-family homes doesn’t provide many options to rent. This mismatch between housing needs and the town's housing stock makes it difficult for aging households to downsize and remain in Essex. It also makes it difficult for those that work in Essex to live in town.”
But Essex is developing a strategic plan to meet housing needs for all of its residents. It includes adopting a mixed-use zoning by-law allowing second floor residential units above existing commercial units to enable better utilization of already developed land, particularly downtown.
“Historically downtown was a mixed-use district,” said Coogan. “Somewhere along the line planners like us decided we didn’t want mixed use. People want to return to that.”
Other recommendations include allowing “in law” apartments; examining affordable housing needs of current Essex residents (and finding options for them within the community); determining “best use” of CPA funds; exploring partnerships on housing strategies with neighboring towns; conducting a market analysis for Essex; applying for grand funding to fund housing studies; and exploring cost cutting options through the state, including energy savings via MassSave. In the end, said Coogan, the idea is to address Essex’s economic future and develop a practical, purposeful plan that widens the existing community of residents instead of reducing it. That means higher density housing options that offer smaller, more affordable types of homes. But doing it effectively, said Coogan, requires care and a focus on what makes Essex unique. “We want to make sure we maintain the character of Essex but also make it possible for people to stay here,” he said.
And for those attending Wednesday’s forum, which higher housing would they like to see more of in Essex? Well, they were asked to vote with stickers among six options on a graphic poster board in the back of the Town Hall auditorium. They included multifamily housing, townhouses, clustered cottages, “detached accessory dwellings” and mixed-use housing. It was an unofficial tally, but in the end, there were three favorites, with top votes for small detached accessory homes, cottage clusters and mixed-use housing.
Next week: Housing affordability is essentially about housing choice. What pieces of the puzzle will the Essex Economic Committee be looking to (such as transportation, community partners, zoning or CAP funds) to support its plan?
