Full Title: Affordable Housing and Energy Resilience in Lynn, Massachusetts: Community Land Trusts and Microgrids
Author(s): Deja Garraway, Lila McNamee, Sumera Patel, and Elizabeth Stanton
Publisher(s): Applied Economics Clinic
Publication Date: July 1, 2024
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Description (excerpt):
Community land trusts and community microgrids present an opportunity for low- and moderate income (LMI) communities in Lynn, Massachusetts to take ownership of their neighborhood, provide affordable housing, and create family and community wealth through home ownership. Community land trusts and microgrids advance equitable affordable housing approaches through organizational missions grounded in racial/ethnic and economic justice, sustainable development, community control, and intergenerational equity (see ES-Table 1). This Applied Economics Clinic report makes recommendations for policymakers in Massachusetts to assist in creating strategies for affordable housing creation and preservation and reduction of energy costs. Lynn needs strategies to address its growing population, aging housing, and the displacement of residents in its LMI neighborhoods.
Climate change has caused disproportionate impacts to LMI communities across the United States with intense storms and heavy rainfall causing flooding in homes that damages housing stock, more intense heat waves, higher energy costs and power outages magnifying the effects of housing insecurity. Sustainable, affordable housing can help reduce carbon pollution and can promote housing resilience in the context of climate risks. Exploring sustainable housing alternatives can also help reduce ratepayers’ annual spending on electricity, including transmission costs. As Lynn is becoming increasingly unaffordable, expanding and preserving affordable housing options and investment in building decarbonization is essential to enhancing the resilience of LMI communities. Accessing existing state affordable housing programs can ensure coordination between accessibility of available state housing programs and compatibility of community land trust and microgrid proposed projects.