An old problem gets a new face Improved design seen as method to win over affordable housing foes By Anthony Flint, Globe Staff, 3/31/2002 The 28-unit complex, in fact, is Falmouth's latest affordable housing project. Tenants whose rents are federally subsidized had already moved in. But the woman's inquiry underscored the importance of good design, said Murray, head of the Falmouth Housing Corporation and lead developer for the $2.6 million project. ''The builder told me I could save a lot of money by taking out some of the jogs in the buildings, or the front porch, or the tent-pitch roof,'' he said while standing outside the handsome blue-gray buildings. ''But when you do a good project, it makes it easier to do the next one.'' That philosophy - making affordable housing projects look nice and blend in with the surrounding neighborhood, as a way of gaining acceptance - is getting new attention in Massachusetts, particularly in suburban communities where resistance to affordable housing is still strong. While suburban lawmakers continue to hold up the housing bond bill on Beacon Hill with attempts to water down Section 40-B - the state law that fast-tracks affordable housing projects in towns where the housing stock is less than 10 percent affordable - the Gifford Road organizers and others argue that showcase projects can change perceptions about what affordable housing really is. ''The big cinderblock HUD buildings of the '60s is what is stuck in people's minds, but this is the antithesis,'' said Deborah Dougherty, a volunteer in the Falmouth project who works for Cape Cod Healthcare. From the outside, the buildings on Gifford Street could pass for a golf course clubhouse, but they will house a food pantry and a social services center. The project was done under 40-B, since only 3.6 percent of Falmouth's housing stock is affordable. Residents will vote at Town Meeting this week on a plan to get to 10 percent in seven years. ''If this is no longer perceived as something that people don't want in their backyards, more land should open up,'' said Andrea Garber, a local architect who donated her time to design the Gifford Road complex. Massachusetts historically has been a leader in emphasizing design in housing. A state program, now gone, provided money for architectural touches in the mid-'80s. Since then, developers in Lincoln, Cambridge, Newton, and elsewhere have taken the initiative to create projects with an upscale look. At the federal level, planners long ago abandoned large public housing projects such as Chicago's Cabrini-Green, and instead encouraged development of smaller-scaled units. However, the renewed interest in design is not without detractors, who argue that even the nicest gables and balustrades are no match for the deep-rooted cultural forces inherent in resistance to affordable housing. To date, there is no hard evidence that good design by itself smoothes the way for acceptance of affordable housing projects in suburban communities. In addition, critics say that spending more money on looks often means fewer units, which doesn't help solve the state's chronic housing problem. And many towns want to put a stop to all development, nice-looking or not, affordable or not, said Robert Engler, partner in the consulting firm Stockard, Engler and Brigham. Attractive design ''doesn't necessarily assist in any significant way at the front end of permitting or neighborhood acceptance,'' he said. ''I was at a hearing last week in a town southwest of Boston, on single-family homes on half-acre lots - what I consider the most benign of affordable housing options. And the neighbors stood at the microphone and called it the `R & P' or `rape and pillage' plan. Good design was not the issue.'' Lew Finfer, head of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and a leading housing advocate in the state, said that improving the appearance of affordable housing projects can help ease the ''racial and class fears and conflicts'' that persist. Another well-established strategy is to mix below-market and market-rate units in a single complex, he noted, citing Harbor Point in Boston as a prime example. It also helps to remind reluctant neighbors that affordable homes go to working-class people earning between $30,000 and $60,000, who were priced out of the market fairly recently, Finfer said. Design can change perceptions about the density of developments as well as housing for a variety of income levels in a community, said developer Robert Kuehn, who built Battle Road Farm in Lincoln more than a decade ago, a neotraditional, mixed-income project adjacent to Minuteman National Park. ''It's possible to convince some towns to take a chance, and break down the myths about housing,'' Kuehn said. If the outward appearance of multifamily housing is appealing, communities may accept more dense development almost without realizing it, said Kuehn. For example, most people prefer the English cottage-style residential complex on Shaler Lane off Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge to the concrete towers for student housing near Bank Street off Memorial Drive, he said. But Shaler Lane is much more dense - 50 units per acre, compared to 35 units per acre for the student housing. Well-designed, dense projects could also lead communities to make changes in their zoning, Kuehn said. ''People look at Chapman Arms off Harvard Square - five-story building, built in 1898 - and they say it's great, why can't we build buildings like that anymore. Well, if I came in with a building like that they would throw me out of town. It has no setbacks, no parking, no open space. Our zoning has backfired on us.'' A more subtle phenomenon takes place when affordable housing projects are well-designed, said David Parish, senior vice president at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. Projects that look good and function well, he said, not only make the tenants proud, but the town as a whole. ''People can focus on design to the extent that the housing serves a social function, but is also of a quality that people can take delight in the fact that it's there. It adds to the physical environment,'' he said. ''You can occasionally make the argument that the landscape looks better for something having been built there.'' The bank provides guidelines on design for affordable housing developers, with the goal of making communities accept and embrace affordable housing projects, Parish said. The ultimate triumph, he said, would be to hear roars of neighborhood protest if anyone in the future were to propose tearing such a project down. Anthony Flint can be reached at flint@globe.com This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on
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