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It’s no secret that Massachusetts is experiencing a housing crisis. But what is lesser known is the demand for housing in Lexington — something Melinda Walker, commissioner of the Lexington Housing Authority, has long been trying to spread the message on.
To paint a picture of the demand for more low-income and affordable housing in Lexington, Walker pointed to the current waitlists for Housing Authority and Lexington Housing Assistance Board (LexHAB) units. Of the 100,000 applicants on the state’s centralized waitlist for public housing, Walker said 4,000 people said that Lexington was a preferred place to live. And when LexHAB developed six affordable housing units on Lowell Street, there were 176 applicants. The authority’s waitlist for single-family homes is currently seven to 10 years on average, according to Walker.
Since 2004, Walker has been part of the housing authority, which manages state and federal public housing for low-income residents at three village properties and 17 scattered single-family sites in town. During her terms, she has participated in forums explaining how public housing works, recruited a native Chinese speaker to the authority’s board to represent better the large Asian population living in senior public housing in town, and written to Town Meeting with stories of families struggling to find housing to try to persuade them that Lexington needs more affordable housing.
Walker also serves as a representative member on behalf of the authority for the Community Preservation Committee, advocating for committee funds to be allocated to preserve the affordable housing stock in Lexington and to try to invest in developing new housing.
Outside the housing authority, Walker is involved with different non-profit organizations that provide services for people looking for housing and elevates stories on the difficulty of finding housing, including the Metro West Collaborative Development, where she serves on the board of directors.
“I’m not trying to say I’m Mother Teresa here, but I’ve been exposed to things that maybe other people in town have not been exposed to, and therefore, they don’t really understand how shameful (difficulty finding housing) is.”
As commissioner, Walker supervises the authority’s executive director, sets policies, and reviews contracts. She is re-running unopposed for her position and would serve her fifth term if re-elected.
When asked what keeps drawing her back to her role, Walker said her institutional experience, paired with a commissioner’s duty to care about tenants.
“It’s really important for people to be involved in supporting housing for low-income individuals,” she said. “This has been an interest of mine for many years … and one of the reasons I’m running for re-election is that I continue to be engaged in other activities related to low-income and affordable housing, not just with the housing authority.”
Last September, Walker spoke at a forum for people interested in finding out what housing was available, sponsored by LexHAB, and to explain the difficulty the authority has in securing enough funding to upkeep properties that they own and build housing.
As part of her involvement with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, Walker has been lobbying for representatives in the third Middlesex District to increase the amount of funding that local housing authorities get from the state to do renovation projects.
Vynebrooke Village, one of the authority’s state public housing developments, is near completion after the authority won a grant from the state in 2019. Walker said the authority won the grant because they showed they could renovate the units and provide social services for the elderly and disabled residents who live there. The award was given for renovating all 48 units in the village. The project ran past its set completion date in 2023 because of increasing construction cost, but should be finished by the end of the month.
“(Vynebrooke Village) in Lexington is an example of how hard it is to get stuff done and how much it costs, and the hidden costs of doing renovations,” she said. “One of the things that happens in renovations is that often the residents with very low income have to be displaced during the time the renovations are going on. So they have to be either moved to hotels or different apartments, and we’ve had to spend $300,000 (for relocation costs) and to hire a relocation social worker to help people with this transition.”
When asked how else she wants to address the lack of affordable housing stock in Lexington, Walker said she will continue her support for Article 33 before Town Meeting, which is an opportunity for the Select Board to designate land on North and Lowell Streets to be set aside for affordable housing. If it passes, the Select Board will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of the land. Walker hopes the potential RFP will require all the units to be affordable and below 80% of the area’s median income.
Walker said her vision of affordable housing in Lexington is to prioritize the needs of low-income people.
“I feel that towns like Lexington have lots of wonderful resources: great public schools, great recreational facilities,” Walker said. “And I would like poor kids to be able to enjoy those same things. I want children to be able to share our resources.”