A
decade ago, hypodermic needles, broken glass, and trash littered
the alleys of Alper Road. Today, it's practically a model community.
"The street was really dark and creepy," recalls Tim
Thurman. Although they hated to give up potential housing units,
he and Vicki Lindsay decided to remove one building to provide muchneeded
parking. "Taking out that building let in a lot of light and
really made the hill lots less threatening," Thurman says.
Marjorie Ferguson was elated last September when she became eligible
to buy the last vacant condominium at Haven Terrace, a project newly
developed by the Community Land Trust of Cape Ann in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. An assembly line worker at a local electronics plant,
she earns $7.50 an hour, far too little to pay the going rate of
over $700 for a onebedroom apartment. Her onebedroom condo on Haven
Terrace cost $46,000. "I'll pay about $500 a month for my mortgage,
condo fees, and taxes," she says, "and it's all mine."
Ten years ago; Alper Road was considered the worst neighborhood
in the city. Located downtown, the neighborhood (later renamed Haven
Terrace) climbs a steep hill studded with ancient stone terraces
and lined with closely packed wood frame houses. In 1990, some of
the apartments were scarred with blood stains and bullet holes,
and all of them were rundown and filthy.
Three years ago, Boris Baxter, then a 36yearold grandfather with
custody of his infant grandson, was desperate for a home free of
lead paint. Someone suggested he check out the condos on Alper Road,
but Baxter said, "absolutely no way are we going to live there."
Several weeks later, feeling out of options, Baxter took a drive
up the notorious street. That ride changed his mind. He came to
believe in the future of Alper Road.
However, although he owned his own video repair service, Baxter
didn't have any credit; he expected the bank to reject his mortgage
application. "I met with Bob Gillis (vice-president of the
Cape Ann Savings Bank and president of the community land trust),
and the next thing I knew," he says, "I was approved."
As a homeowner, he pays $610 a month for a threebedroom condominium
with a splendid view of the harbor. Today Baxter sits alongside
Gillis on the board of directors of the land trust.
Redefining 'affordable'
"The purpose of the land trust is to develop properties and
sell them for below market to people who couldn't otherwise buy
a home," explains Gillis. "It's been a tremendously successful
program. We have all kinds of working Gloucester people living there."
To be eligible to buy one of the condos, a family must earn less
than 80 percent of the area median income, adjusted for family size,
explains Vicki Lindsay, the land trust's executive director. "They
must have lived or worked on Cape Ann for at least a year, and they
have to earn enough to afford the unit, a decision that lies with
the banks."
Under Massachusetts law, each community must attempt to make 10
percent of its residential units affordable. In Gloucester, 6.23
percent, or 766 of its 12,301 housing units, qualified as affordable
in 1990, the last year for which such figures are available.
The community land trust is one mechanism for increasing that number.
In Massachusetts, the word "community" in front of land
trust indicates a focus on housing, to distinguish this sort of
land trust from the kind that focuses on preserving open space.
There are nine community land trusts in the state; together they
have built 297 units of affordable housing.
Cape Ann's community land trust sells the condominiums but retains
title to the land, which it leases to the condominium owners under
a renewable 99year lease. By controlling the land, the land trust
can ensure continued housing affordability by tying the resale price
of the units to the local wage scale.
Broad brush
Under Lindsay's leadership the fledgling land trust bought its
first building on Alper Road in 1990 at the urging of David Marsh,
president of the Gloucester Bank and Trust, which had foreclosed
on the rundown structure.
Marsh's bank was ready to provide acquisition and construction
financing under favorable terms but, he cautioned Lindsay, "if
this is going to work, it's going to have to be the first of seven
or eight buildings that you take on." Her vision was consistent
with his. After all, who would want to live in a fresh new home
surrounded by slums?
Glen Gibbs, director of planning and development in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
was the city planner in Gloucester at the time. When Lindsay and
architect Tim Thurman approached him about the Alper Road project,
he says, "I was skeptical it could be pulled off because it
was going to involve an awful lot of funding and because the street
had such a terrible reputation. At the same time, I was impressed
by their broad approach. They understood that the high density,
which contributed to the problems on the street, was also one of
its strengths."
The city of Gloucester contributed $15,000 in community development
block grant funds towards the first house, and a private foundation
gave $20,000. The Essex Association of the United Church of Christ,
a consortium of 43 churches, provided $60,000 along with $30,000
worth of sweat equity. The house was converted to three condo units
in 1992, and qualified buyers were chosen through a lottery system.
Because the sale prices of $30,000 for a onebedroom unit and $35,000
for a twobedroom unit were much less than the units' appraised value,
the bank offered mortgages without any down payment.
Three years later the land trust bought eight of the remaining
nine houses on the street. Armed with a preliminary design and pro
forma, Thurman and Lindsay proposed to the Warren Five Cents Savings
Bank that nearly the entire road be rehabilitated. The project was
awarded a $5,000 prize in the bank's annual affordable housing design
competition. In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Housing
and Community Development provided a Housing Stabilization Fund
grant of $570,000, and the city of Gloucester contributed $150,000
in block grant funds. Construction, financed by a consortium of
local banks, began in 1996.
In 1997 the units began to sell at prices ranging from $39,900
for a onebedroom unit to $69,900 for a fourbedroom unit. At that
time, the median price of all home sales in Gloucester was $150,000.
Because the units were valued far above their price, the banks required
only a three percent down payment and agreed to absorb most of the
closing costs." It was really great because lots of units became
available at the same time," says Lindsay, "and we were
able to help lots of people."
Writing a script
Scott Harlan, a teacher, and his wife were expecting their first
child when they bought their condo on Haven Terrace in 1997. Now
the parents of a oneyearold son and a three yearold daughter, Harlan
is certain they made the right decision. "The advantage of
moving into a neighborhood almost all at the same time is that we're
creating our story together. Because we're a condominium association,
we have to make decisions together. We have to develop a fair and
consistent way of dealing with issues like picking up after dogs
and taking responsibility for kids outside."
Karen Bradshaw and her three daughters, ages 17, 14, and 9, moved
into their spacious fourbedroom condo early in 1998. This newly
divorced mother was delighted to find that she could buy her own
home for carrying costs of $730 a month. Still, she knew the street's
reputation. "I probably wouldn't have made this my first choice
of a place to live," she says, "but financially it's the
best thing for me, and I'm thrilled with my space."
The land trust bought the last building on the street in September
1999 with a $120,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of
Housing and Community Development Housing Stabilization Fund, a
$50,000 grant from North Shore HOME Consortium, and a $5,000 gift
from a private company, Gorton's, Inc. These four condos sold for
$44,000 to $76,000, while the median price of a home in Gloucester
escalated to $208,000.
Today a total of 26 condominium units occupy nine wood frame buildings
on Haven Terrace. The ground floor of one of the buildings is designated
as common space, which owners are free to use for birthday parties,
meetings, and social gatherings.
"What Haven Terrace offers is a place to call home,"
sums up Boris Baxter. "It means I can give my grandson some
stability." The land trust recently embarked on the conversion
of two buildings on Granite Street in downtown Gloucester, one of
which housed soldiers returning from the Civil War. Sale prices
will range from $64,000 to $99,000, continuing the land trust's
legacy as the door opens for 14 more families to own homes.
Harriet Webster is a freelance writer and a member
of the Gloucester City Council.
