Politics & Government

Bill for Transfer, Sale of Melrose Group Homes on Governor's Desk

The special act allows the the transfer of group homes on Lebanon Street and Trenton Street from the Melrose Housing Authority to the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation, which plans to sell them.

A special act of the state Legislature that would allow for the sale of group homes on Lebanon and Trenton Streets, and then using the revenue from those sales to rehabilitate existing (MHA) properties and purchase more homes to convert to affordable apartments, has reached Gov. Deval Patrick's desk.

Rep. Paul Brodeur, D-Melrose, tweeted yesterday afternoon, "Happy to report that Melrose home rule petition on affordable housing is on its way to the Governor's desk!"

The bill as enacted by the House and Senate yesterday, and , would authorize the transfer of residences at 499 Lebanon St. and 165 Trenton St. from the MHA—which runs government-subsidized public housing and locally administers the Section 8 federal housing subsidy—to the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation, which owns maintains affordable housing in Melrose for low and moderate income families.

Find out what's happening in Melrosewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Then, the proceeds from the sale of each property would be be partially retained by the Melrose Housing Authority. The first $379,763 of net proceeds generated from the sales would be remitted to the MHA for the repair of its low-income family units.

The remainder of the sales' net proceeds would be used by the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation to purchase two-family homes as they become available at a price that fits the model the Corporation uses to acquire properties.

Find out what's happening in Melrosewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Corporation, which currently owns nine affordable housing units in Melrose, expects to take in upwards of $800,000 from the sale of the two properties, Frank Giso of the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation told the aldermen last summer.

The former group homes being sold include, in total, 16 bedrooms. Giso had estimated that the purchase of new homes should create 24-26 bedrooms of affordable housing in Melrose.


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