Home renovated by Hingham Affordable Housing Trust set to hit the market early next year

HINGHAM – The town's Affordable Housing Trust is putting the finishing touches on a duplex off Route 3A that will soon be added to the town's affordable housing inventory.

The trust bought the property on Rhodes Circle in 2019 for $524,000 and put about $200,000 worth of work into the building, which will be sold to families as two units for $220,000 each with a $200 monthly condominium fee.

Hingham Affordable Housing Trust Chair Jack Falvey said the project is 99% done and will wrap up after minor fixups and landscaping.

Each unit has three bedrooms, one bathroom and front and rear decks.  The units are 965 and 985 square feet. The duplex has a new roof and boilers as well as new appliances and water heaters, repaved walkways and new carpentry and paint. The units are within walking distance of bus routes, less than a mile from Hingham Shipyard and about 2 miles from the town's bathing beach.

The homes follow energy-efficient recommendations that include efficient lightbulbs, showerheads and insulation,  which will make living there more affordable for the homeowners, Falvey said.

“We’re trying to think ahead,” he said.

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Falvey said  creating more affordable housing is a priority in Hingham's master plan. The goal is to build an average of five affordable homes every year over the next 10 years.

In Hingham, 11% of housing units are deemed affordable, Falvey said. Communities in Massachusetts where more than 10% of housing stock is deemed affordable are exempt from projects submitted under the state's Chapter 40B law, which allows developers to bypass local building restrictions.

“The town is very committed to increasing our availability for affordable housing,” Falvey said.

The Rhodes Circle project is the first affordable home built this year for the trust, and is expected to hit the market early next year. Once completed, it will be added to the subsidized housing inventory.

A lottery will be held to select owners for the property. Falvey said the new owners would need to make 60% of the area median income or less. The income limit for a family of four would be $80,520.

Falvey said the Hingham Affordable Housing Trust is also focused on building affordable rental units and affordable homes for seniors in the future.

“We’ll be looking for more opportunities like that,” he said.

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Reach Joel Barnes at jkbarnes@patriotledger.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Hingham's affordable housing stock is getting a duplex