Newton names Affordable Housing Trust members

The seven members of a new Newton trust intended to help support more affordable housing in the city have been announced by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in a statement.

The trust, which was established late last year, will help the city take steps such as setting aside funding to buy property or invest in the development of affordable housing in Newton.

“The Trust has the ability to create a streamlined process to provide funding to new affordable housing projects and to take advantage of development opportunities which might otherwise not be available to the City,” Fuller said.

In Newton, Fuller said in a statement that the city’s trust will include herself as mayor, along with six additional members.

Those members include: Tamirirashe Gambiza, a certified public accountant and member of the Commonwealth Land Trust; Ann Houston, the former president of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association; Jason Korb, the principal of Newton-based developer Capstone Communities LLC; and Peter Sargent, the former director of capital development at the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation.

The trust also includes Ward 6 Councilor-at-large Alicia Bowman and Community Preservation Committee member Judy Weber, Fuller said in the statement.

The members are appointed by Fuller as mayor and confirmed by the City Council, she said.

“We believe that the new Trustees will be appointed in time to begin holding meetings in May. With the pandemic further highlighting the region’s housing crisis, the Trust is convening at a critical moment,” Fuller said.

The Newton trust’s mission is to preserve existing affordable housing units and create new ones that are affordable to low and moderate income households who earn less than 80 percent of the area median income, she said.

In Newton, the area median income for a family of four is $120,800 in fiscal 2021, according to the city.

Funding for the trust will come from an initial $1.6 million from the Community Preservation Committee’s annual budget, Fuller said. Additional funds may also be included from the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Fund, she said.