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THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, November 15, 2019 Page 11 City Council approves affordable housing trust fund C By Barbara Taormina ity officials have made good on the promise to focus more on producing and preserving aff ordable housing with the creation of Malden’s Aff ordable Housing Trust Fund. The City Council voted unanimously this week to establish the fund, which will be used to preserve expiring rent restrictions on existing aff ordable units, to convert existing homes into aff ordable housing and to create new aff ordable homes through partnerships, typically with nonprofit organizations. Councillors also voted to channel 50 percent of the money private housing developers pay in mitigation fees into the new fund. Members of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council who attended the City Council subcommittee meetings on the creation of the trust fund were at this week’s meeting to applaud the fi nal vote. Ordinance Committee Chairman Craig Spadafora thanked them, fellow councillors, the Malden Redevelopment Authority (MRA), the Mayor’s Offi ce, residents and other city offi cials who he said were part of a collaborative eff ort behind the trust fund. Spadafora said the City Council received the MRA proposal for the trust fund at the end of August and managed to work through all the details for something very big in a short amount of time. “It’s well overdue and I know some residents think we should have done it faster, but I think we did it pretty quick,” he said. The Aff ordable Housing Trust Fund is the centerpiece of a slate of housing strategies put together by MRA Community Development Director Alex Pratt and Malden Senior Planner Evan Spetrini. Also in the works are a revolving loan program for security deposits for apartment rentals and a feasibility study on inclusionary zoning that would require aff ordable units to be included in new residential projects. But the new trust fund is meant to be the hub of the city’s aff ordable housing initiatives. More than 100 other communities have local aff ordable housing trusts that rely primarily on money generated through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to move affordable housing projects forward. The CPA requires communities to commit 10 percent of the annual revenue from the program’s property tax surcharge coupled with a slice of state preservation funding to aff ordable housing. But Pratt and Spetrini proposed that Malden work faster and harder to build the city’s Aff ordable Housing Trust Fund by redirecting development mitigation fees. In certain sections of the city, developers pay a $2,000-per-unit fee to mitigate the impacts of new housing projects. Historically, that money has been split between the mayor and the City Council, which divides its share of the mitigation fees among its 11 members who use it to support neighborhood improvement projects. The City Council voted this week to restructure the mitigation fee program and put 50 percent of the money in the new trust fund. The remaining 50 percent will continue to be split between the mayor and the City Council. According to Pratt and Spetrini, the city is in line to collect more than $1 million in mitigation fees next year from the J Malden Center project downtown and from the new units going up at Overlook Ridge. State laws that govern municipal trust funds for aff ordable housing require communities to appoint a board of trustees with at least fi ve members who will have the authority to accept property, donations gifts and grants, and to buy, sell, lease and improve properties. In many communities, board members can also borrow money using trust fund assets as collateral. The City Council approved a board structure that Spadafora said was designed to ensure transparency and include different perspectives. Malden’s housing trust fund will be managed by a seven-member board chaired by Mayor Gary Christenson or his designee. The board will also include a city councillor or the City Council’s designee and the director of the Malden Housing Authority. The fourth seat will go to a Malden resident who either lives in or is eligible for deed-restricted aff ordable housing. The remaining three seats will go to members who can bring experience and expertise in aff ordable housing, real estate, fi nance or nonprofi t housing services to the board. Board members will be nominated by the mayor and confi rmed by the City Council. More than 140 students from Malden receive first quarter honors at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School M ystic Valley Regional Charter School (MVRCS) recently released its fi rst quarter Honor Roll for the 2019-2020 Academic Year. A total of 368 MVRCS students in grades 7-12 achieved either High Honor Roll or Honor Roll recognition. One hundred forty-seven young men and women hailing from Malden were part of the list. To be on the Honor Roll, a student needs to fi nish the quarter with no grade lower than a B-; to be on the High Honor Roll, a student needs to fi nish the quarter with no grade lower than an A-. The list of Honor Roll students from Malden: 7th Grade High Honor Roll: Kaylie Blauvelt, Jayden Chu, Sophea Geich, Owen Goodreau, Isabelle He, Hallie Lai, Sophia Marcus, Theo Parena, Jenna Pilleri, Anthony Rutkauskas, Anirudh Seethamraju, Sierra Soares, Crystal Tang, Ina Tolete, Hailey Tran, Ana Vieira, Matthew Weng, Winiel Xie. Honor Roll: Maria Alves, Edward Bernier, Daisy Castillo, Joshua DaSilva, Ethan Danoff , Connor Fitzpatrick, Brianna Gesnaldo, Johnna Griff ths, Gerald Hamelin, Sean Hudson, Christopher Janvier, Dalton Kinnon, Christ-Ryan Leconte, Neisha Maurin, Vanydia Montina, Venicia Montina, Melissa Moura, Anthony Noble, Aidan Okoth, Zoe Rogers, Roodlyana Seide. 8th Grade High Honor Roll: Rim Badaoui, Jonathan Brandano, Amelia Daly, Lukas Deguire, Nora Fatimi, Ryan Hartnett, Makda Johannes, Kavinprasad Kanagaraju, Benjamin Lagasse, Gabriella Lajoie, Coralie Mondesir, Angelica Nocera, Rachel Nortelus, Ameya Panchal, Rakshit Rangaprasad, Chloe Salvi, Mahun Sheikh, Alexander Sokolovic, Ashley Tham, Aimy Tran, NhatMinh Tran, Diora Velic, Crystal Wu, Jason Yan, Jasmine Zhao. Honor Roll: Stephen Carterm, Ashley Cenat, Mason Chan, Dewayne Henry, Sarah Henry, Thora Henry, Miriam Johannes, Akot Lual, Inssaf Machouk, Tabitha Manseau, Evan Montrose, Liana Samson, Kartik Sirivaram, Nari Steele, Melody Sullivan, Abigail Tippett. 9th Grade High Honor Roll: Ryan Chen, Isabella Chu, Daniel Nguyen, Amy Pham, Eric Wang. Honor Roll: Asal Bahrampouri, Natalia Caballero, Andy Chen, Isabella Elmoussaoui, Kaitlynne Kearney, Alexandria Manseau, Matthew Nguyen, Rayan Oukani, Mariam Seghir. 10th Grade High Honor Roll: Rinatro Inomata, Julia Nguyen, Kim Tran, Son Tran. Honor Roll: Emily Chagnon, Olivia Correale, Gianna Gray, Adam Housni, Marwa Mihi, Dhyey Patel, Ashley Pham, Amora Velic. 11th Grade High Honor Roll: Sidra Alani, Shannon Brady, Jennifer Cheung, Nicole Deguire, Kara Hollis, John Le, Jessica Li, Amine Rih, Alaa Zeabi. Honor Roll: Sofi a Augeri, Angelina Casucci, Connor Cavanaugh, Vanesse Cenat, Siminatha Chan, Kelly Chen, Katherine Gately, Mitchely Guerrier, Ryan Habda, Tracy Lam, NaLike us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma Dr. Priti Amlani Dr. Bruce Goldman Dr. Bhavisha Patel Eastern bank Bldg. Rt-1 605 Broadway, #301 Saugus, MA 01906 781-233-6844 www.bostonnorthdental.com than Nguyen, Bethany Sullivan, Renecca Verrill. 12th Grade High Honor Roll: Danielle Downie, Natalie LoRusso, Jason Luu, Aiya Masoud, Donald Nguyen, Quynh-An Vo. Honor Roll: Omar Asrih, Maya Broomes, Saige Brutus, Jennie Chau, Danielle Coleman, Bianca Deras, Jaden Granderson, Cody Lajoie, Nikolas Porzio, Jemimah Prosper, Matthew Romprey, Nicholas Sokolovic, Madison Sullivan. Full mouth Rehabilitation Before After

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