Housing Production in Tewksbury
The Town of Tewksbury is working with NMCOG to update the Tewksbury Housing Production Plan. It will guide decisions on how to create affordable housing and how we can work toward making sure all people can afford a home that meets their needs. As part of this effort, the Town and NMCOG developed a short survey on the needs, goals and future for housing in Tewksbury. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete and the survey is available here.
A Housing Production Plan is a framework for discussing 40B Comprehensive Permit projects, zoning changes, Community Preservation Act (CPA) fund expenditures, Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) expenditures, and other actions the Town and its partners can undertake to increase the supply of affordable housing.
A current Housing Production Plan can provide preference in One Stop funding applications and has other regulatory functions.
Opportunity for community to come together with a pro-active vision of how to meet housing needs as communities grow and change.
The Housing Production Plan can identify the barriers preventing building affordable housing and recommend mitigation for these barriers.
Why Plan for Housing?
According to the UMass Donahue Institute, the number of new units being permitted is not keeping up with projected new households. This has resulted in families “doubling” or “tripling up” in units in some communities and pushing costs higher than wages.
Our state has a housing affordability crisis!
As shown in the chart above, this housing cost burden has disproportionately fallen on Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino/a populations.
This crisis extends to Greater Lowell and Tewksbury!
A standard metric for affordability is that a household should spend 30% or less of its annual income on housing costs like rent or mortgage and utilities.
A median family of 3 earns $126,500 in the Greater Lowell region, and 30% of that is ~$3,162.50 monthly.
A household spending 30% to 50% is considered “moderately burdened” and a household spending more than 50% is considered “severely burdened”
Although Tewksbury’s median income is relatively high, there are many households with lower incomes.
Households earning less than 80% of the Area Median Income are considered low income and generally eligible for subsidized housing. For example, a family of 3 in Greater Lowell earning $80,500 would generally be eligible.
In 2014-2018, 3,205 Tewksbury households, or 27.5% of all Tewksbury households, were estimated to have incomes at or below 80% of the Area Median Family Income.
As of May 5, 2022, there are 1,087 Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI)-eligible housing units in Tewksbury, approximately 10.1% of the total 10,803 year-round housing units identified by the 2010 US Census.
In 2012, the Tewksbury Median Home Price started growing faster than the Massachusetts Median Home Price, and more recently, both have jumped significantly.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Decennial Census and 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 American Community Survey Table B19001
Source: The Warren Group
The typical Tewksbury home sold in 2021 would not be affordable to at least 70% of Tewksbury Households.
For a $560,000 home, the median home sales price in 2021, monthly payments would be roughly $3,550, assuming 10% down on a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 5% interest rate.
A household would need to earn approximately $142,000 per year for a single-family mortgage with the above assumptions to be affordable (30% of annual income).
A median family earns $126,500 in our the Greater Lowell region, and 30% of that is ~$3,162.50 monthly.
Tewksbury has an undersupply of rental units when compared to other suburbs of Lowell.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2016-2020 American Community Survey, Table B25118
This results in Tewksbury having the second-highest median rent in the region.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey and 2016-2020 American Community Survey
The burden of high costs (rental and ownership) falls disproportionately on Lower incomes.
In 2015-2019, an estimated 900 out of 1,335 Extremely Low Income (Below 30% HAMFI) households, or 67% of Extremely Low Income households, paid more than half their income on housing.
An estimated 370 out of 1,070 Very Low Income (30% to 50% HAMFI) households, or 35%, paid more than half their income on housing.
The proportion of renter households in particular that were moderately burdened (20.2%) and severely burdened (23.1%) has worsened in the last five years.*
The rent burden has disproportionate impacts on Fair housing, as nonwhite or Hispanic or Latino/a groups more often are renters.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2015-2019 CHAS Data, https://www.huduser.gov
* U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 American Community Survey
Tewksbury’s 65 and older population has grown substantially in the past 20 years, as have residents in the 20-34 year old category.
Members of the 20-34 year old category aren’t becoming heads of households, meaning many may not be able to afford homes of their own due to potential lack of housing options.
Both the 65-79 and 80+ age categories are projected to grow significantly in the coming decades.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 and 2010 Decennial Census, 2016-2020 American Community Survey, MassDOT/Donahue Institute Population Projections
Conclusions
There are a significant number of residents who make very low incomes and extremely low incomes, and their housing needs aren’t being met.
Homeownership is increasingly out of reach for the median income earner, creating concerns about fair access to housing.
Renters fare significantly worse than owners on access to and cost of housing.
Higher income levels often pay less than 20% of their income on housing and occupy housing that might be affordable to those who earn less.
Tewksbury has a growing population that will need accessible housing, especially seniors in non-family households.
Tewksbury also has a growing need for smaller units suitable for individuals or small but growing families.