WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town's Affordable Housing Trust is waiting for proposals to sell the town land for the development of subsidized housing.

 

In February, the trust issued a request for proposals for "the purchase of vacant land and/or improved land in Williamstown."

 

In the past, the trustees have discussed either rehabilitating existing single or two-family homes or building new housing in partnership with a non-profit like Habitat for Humanity.

 

The goal is to create deed-restricted owner-occupied housing to complement some of the town's current and planned rental developments.

 

Landowners interested in selling to the town have until 4 p.m. on April 17 to submit their proposals.

 

"I checked with [Town Manager Peter Fohlin's] office today and was told that two parties had requested the full RFP," Trustee Stanley Parese said at the March meeting. "Whether they submit a proposal or not, we'll find out on April 17.

 

"We have done all we need to do to set the process in motion."

 

That includes publishing the RFP in a local newspaper and on the commonwealth's Central Register.

 

The trustees named six criteria on which it will judge the proposals: size of property, offer price, price per estimated unit, ease of construction, access to town services (stores, recreation facilities, public transportation) and "suitability for intended purpose."

 

Several of the criteria were written with an eye toward making the most of the trust's treasury, which stood at about $231,000 at the March meeting pending two transactions: a $15,000 payment for a Mortgage Assistance Program grant approved in February and an additional $75,000 from Community Preservation Act disbursements approved at the May 2014 annual town meeting.

 

"We'll be somewhere around $290,000 when we plus $75,000 and minus $15,000," Chairman Thomas Sheldon noted.

 

In other business last month, the trustees briefly discussed an issue that came up during February's consideration of the second MAP application.

 

At that time, Trustee Craig Clemow suggested the trust may want to consider a "but-for" clause in the program — limiting awards to applicants who would not be able to secure a mortgage without the town grant.

 

Since Clemow did not attend the March session, the panel decided to hold off on a full discussion of his concern.

 

Sheldon, who spearheaded the Mortgage Assistance Program and was out of town in February, did note that a question on the program's application asking whether the applicant needed the grant to qualify for a mortgage, "was put in the application to trigger feedback to us."

 

"It wasn't put in there to reflect a bias that our aid should be focused on people for whom the grant was necessary," Sheldon said.

 

Parese noted that even though the MAP — conceived as a way of helping those who already prequalified for a loan — still has a rigid income requirement based on the area median income established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

"We wanted this program to be simple," Parese said. "So much of what surrounds affordable housing financing is unimaginably complicated."