Workforce housing project still needed

At the most basic level, there are few things that matter more than having a warm, safe place to sleep at night.

Access to adequate and appropriate housing is a major barrier to community growth. While the city of Medford has taken huge strides to address unmet housing needs in the community working with contractors and the business community to convert unused industrial park land to market-rate apartment housing and single family homes, the housing shortfall impacts all demographic groups.

It is important for the city to move forward on a proposed workforce housing apartment complex planned for Progressive Ave. near the Northcentral Technical College campus and major employers such as Marathon Cheese.

In May 2021, city council members approved selling the 4.4 acre parcel to Commonwealth Development Corporation of America to construct a 40-unit complex with a community room and play areas. Thirty-two of the units will be rented on an income-eligible basis with the remaining eight being market rate. The deal was dependent on the company qualifying for a competitive federal tax credit program.

The benefit to the city was to bring vacant city-owned land back on the tax role with millions of dollars of property improvements along with addressing housing needs for lower-income workers.

The project narrowly missed the threshold for the credit program in the first round. However, due to other communities dropping their project, is now eligible to use the credits.

The proverbial fly in the ointment is that since the project started costs have gone up, particularly financing costs due to repeated federal interest rate increases in the past year. This made the project more expensive than originally planned which led to the debate at last week’s city council committee of the whole meeting over the city’s continued role in the project. The company has sought to scale back costs by eliminating garage structures and is asking the city to give them the land rather than sell it along with support from the housing funds left over after the closure of Tax Incremental District No. 12. The city has long-since recovered the land value of the parcel through revenues collected on improvements to the tax incremental district. Passing up immediate payment for this parcel will have negligible impact to the city’s bottom line, while bringing a development onto the tax rolls will benefit the city’s tax base for years to come. Giving land for development is standard operating procedure for cities to promote industrial and commercial development and it makes sense to do it to promote residential growth.

Beyond that, the remaining funds available through the TID 12 closure must be spent on housing projects. This project is an ideal fit allowing the city to meet a community need at essentially no cost to local taxpayers.

As far as the garages, yes garage spaces are a nice amenity, but there are many renters, and private homeowners, who live without them. Ensuring parking spots for all tenants is a higher priority.

Rural communities such as Medford face housing challenges across all levels from those who rely on subsidized housing, to market-rate apartments, to singlefamily homes and estates.

When addressing housing needs it is important to look at the total spectrum so that workers filling all the job levels in the community have a safe and secure place to live.

Members of The Star News editorial board include Publisher Carol O’Leary, General Manager Kris O’Leary and News Editor Brian Wilson.