Lexington Affordable Housing Trust Faces August Deadline to Preserve 17 Federal Vouchers

LEXINGTON — June 4, 2026 — Lexington's Affordable Housing Trust heard an August 13 federal deadline that could erase 17 vouchers earmarked for a new North Street development. Cambridge Housing Authority Deputy Executive Director Margaret Dolly Moran, serving as development consultant to the Lexington Housing Authority under an intergovernmental agreement, told trustees that HUD issued a May 12 notice requiring housing authorities holding Faircloth-to-RAD resources to achieve official action status from a bond-issuing agency or lose the set-aside vouchers. The project — 17 new townhome units at three adjacent parcels on North Street — is targeting MassDevelopment for that status, with a concept plan expected by late October and a pre-development funding request to the trust anticipated in fall 2026. Per-unit construction costs could run into the "mid-eights," Moran said, citing prevailing wage requirements and a two-step public procurement process, though a 2022 state law may allow one-step procurement and shave 20 to 25 percent off costs. LexHAB Executive Director Sarah Morrison separately reported that the organization's four-ADU pilot program is nearly complete at approximately $500,000 per unit, with eight or nine additional ADU sites identified, and that LexHAB has applied to the state for roughly $1.2 million in combined ADU funding and project-based vouchers. Trustees voted 5-0 to enter executive session to discuss an MBTA multifamily development buy-down and approved seven sets of meeting minutes by the same margin.