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LDS Starts the Year Off Strong! Greetings!
LDS Consulting Group, LLC hit the ground running this year, preparing a record number of market studies for the February 2010 Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) funding round. We thank all our research associates, Eunice, Jesse, Lauren and Theodora for their hard work, dedication and attention to detail, which enabled us to meet our deadline.
The Massachusetts Housing Partnership has just announced the availability of technical assistance grants for Massachusetts municipalities. MHP is accepting applications for the new grants, which will help communities determine the feasibility of producing affordable rental housing. Please contact LDS if you are interested in creating a scope of services to apply for this program.
We also welcome three new clients: The Neighborhood Corp., Sudbury Housing Authority and the Town of Danvers Planning Department. |
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LDS Featured in Regional APA Newsletter on Diversity
Lynne Sweet, Principal of LDS, and Lisa Davis, Principal of Lisa Davis and Associates, collaborated on an article that appeared in the January 2010 issue of New England Planning, a publication of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Chapters of the American Planning Association. The issue was dedicated to diversity in planning. The article about LDS and Lisa Davis and Associates, titled "Secrets to Successful Women Owned Businesses," highlighted the different challenges that women-owned, real estate consulting and planning businesses face. It also focused on the creative ways Lynne and Lisa have worked to overcome those challenges. The two women have worked together many times over the years as their businesses are complementary; Lisa works on retail studies and Lynne works on housing studies. |
Lynne Sweet to Serve on 40B Advisory Committee
As a member of New England Women in Real Estate, LDS Principal Lynne Sweet has been asked to sit on the advisory committee for the Committee Against Repealing the Housing Law, which aims to defend the Massachusetts affordable housing law known as Chapter 40B. The Massachusetts Legislature enacted that historic housing law in 1969, codifying the goal that each community in the Commonwealth do its fair share to meet the housing needs of its residents.
Through 40B, more than 56,000 homes have been created for low- and middle-income families, seniors and people with disabilities across the state. Despite its enormous success, 40B opponents have gathered enough signatures to initiate a November 2010 ballot referendum to eliminate this landmark affordable housing law. This comes at a time of high unemployment, a severe recession, growing homelessness and the worst foreclosure crisis on record.
An impressive effort is already underway to defeat the repeal. A coalition of more than 140 civic, business and religious leaders, academics, senior and disability organizations, environmentalists, housing and civil rights advocates, affordable housing residents, labor representatives and municipal officials have formed a ballot committee called The Committee Against Repealing the Housing Law. To learn more about this effort and how you can get involved, go to http://www.protectaffordablehousing.org/. |
 Market Studies Support February Funding Applications
LDS completed more than a dozen market studies for the February 2010 funding round. The studies were for a variety of senior and multifamily projects in the communities of Carlisle, Cambridge, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Middleborough, Stow, Sudbury, Taunton and Webster. The projects included adaptive re-use, new construction and re-capitalization. Pictured above is a part of the Bohio Development for which Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation is seeking funding to complete capital improvements.
Several of the market studies LDS conducted were new, while others were updates from prior funding rounds. One study was a letter LDS customized for the Sudbury Housing Authority. The housing authority is working to develop 11 units of scattered-site housing that will have project-based Section 8 subsidies. Because of this, the housing authority is only applying for soft debt. Rather than conduct a full study that is typically required for a tax credit development, LDS created a short letter that highlighted elements in the Massachusetts Qualified Allocation Plan. Elements included threshold requirements such as area housing authorities' occupancy and waiting lists as well as the gap between market-rate and affordable rents. This letter produced by LDS met the client's needs while not breaking their budget.
In addition, LDS broke a new speed record when a last minute request came in from a client who attended a DHCD information session. The client asked LDS to update a market study one week before the application was due, and within three working days, LDS met that request! |
LDS Set to Begin Downtown Study in Danvers
As part of DHCD's Downtown Initiative Program, LDS will begin a study with the Town of Danvers Planning Department in the next few weeks. The goal of the study is to assess the potential for creating additional housing opportunities in downtown Danvers. This is an attractive and vibrant town center with strong retail presence, and it has benefited from significant walkability improvements made by the Town. |
Lynne Sweet Among NEWIRE Members to Receive Networking Award
Lynne Sweet and 11 other NEWIRE members will be honored as recipients of the organization's annual Networking Award on April 14, 2010. The NEWIRE Achievement Awards Dinner will be held at Copley Plaza. Lynne and the others are receiving the Networking Award for their collective work on the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly development called Shilman House, which is under construction in Framingham. Shilman House will include 150 new mixed-income rental apartments. LDS worked for the Town of Framingham during the permitting process as a technical consultant on the need for elderly housing in Framingham.
The following NEWIRE members were each involved with Shilman Housing at one point in the 7-year process, demonstrating the motto that "it takes a village" to build affordable housing:
Wendy Cohen, Ellen Connolly, Andrea Daskalakis, Elizabeth Gruber, Stephanie Ives, Michelle Leibowitz, Mary Ellen Jutras, Tabetha McCartney, Kathleen McGilvray, Rebecca Regan, and Kim Vermeer. | |
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We have received our first inquiry to assist with planning efforts in connection with the September 25, 2010 funding round. This shows that it is never too early to begin preparing for the fall funding round.
We are actively looking for assisted living development sites in and around Route 128 and buildings throughout Massachusetts suitable for adaptive re-use for work force housing.
We are always looking to partner with clients and consultants on new projects.
Sincerely,
Lynne D. Sweet
Managing Member
LDS Consulting Group, LLC 233 Needham Street, Newton, MA |
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