This story was updated to reflect information that was brought to our attention about one of the candidates after this was published
The competition for an open seat for a five-year term on the Needham Housing Authority’s five-member board presents a choice between a candidate who fully supports the town’s current plan to invest in public housing and one who needs more time to evaluate its necessity and value. The primary responsibility of the NHA is to oversee the town’s public housing developments.
The two candidates, Geoff Engler and Barbara McDonald, each say they support initiatives on behalf of affordable housing in Needham. The level of that support, however, varies.
“Everybody agrees that we do need more housing and that people want affordable housing,” McDonald said. “But what I’m hearing from people now is their concern is about large tax bills that we recently got and the water utility bills.”
Engler is less equivocal, saying he has studied the NHA redevelopment initiative, fully supports it and feels his particular skills can help the NHA advance it. “There’s been a lot of time and attention spent on that plan,” he said. “I think it’s a well-conceived plan.”
Their respective experience related to housing issues in general varies considerably. McDonald points to her experiences managing rental properties owned by her family, while Engler refers to his more than 20-year career in the planning, permitting, development, sale and leasing of multifamily housing projects that have produced thousands of units, including the Kendrick and Greendale Village complexes in Needham.
“I have many years in health care and I’ve been dealing with people for a long time,” McDonald said when asked to list her qualifications. “I just feel as though having an independent perspective from the community at large can be helpful.”
Engler is the managing partner of Strategic Land Ventures and is also president of SEB LLC, both of which are involved in the development of multifamily housing. SEB has worked in almost 200 communities in Massachusetts to provide permitting and other support for multifamily housing projects.
“On our projects we’re involved from soup to nuts — from developing the opportunity, to creating a concept, to pulling the team together, to seeing the development through to construction, to managing the whole team, to reviewing budgets, to making sure that it’s staying on budget, to looking for operating efficiencies, to negotiating contracts. I have experience in all of those things.”
In 2021 Engler was suspended for one year from participating in the state’s Chapter 40B affordable housing application process for failing to disclose a financial relationship with the owner of a Wellesley property related to a permitting process.
Engler acknowledged the temporary suspension in a conversation with the Observer on April 4, attributing it to his “hubris’ in trying to overcome MassHousing’s initial rejection of the property by re-applying for approval under his own name.
He was reinstated and a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities confirmed that Engler is currently in compliance with the terms of his reinstatement.
The NHA manages 336 deeply affordable housing units at its four properties: Linden-Chambers, Seabeds Way, Captain Robert Cook Drive and High Rock Estates. In 2021 it began its Preservation and Redevelopment Initiative, a long-term plan to address capital needs at all its properties.
This will require tens of millions of dollars, some 90% of which is expected to come from non-town sources — low-income housing tax credits, federal and state grant programs and private loans. The competitive grant processes place a lot of weight on the level of local support provided.
For the NHA, that local support can be shown mostly through awards of Community Preservation Act grants which are expected to provide the “gap funding” the NHA needs to get to 100% funding. The NHA receives no other regular funding from town revenues.
The steep price tag of the NHA initiative reflects the scale of the deficiencies that threaten the very viability of its properties. Many are more than 60 years old, have never been upgraded and are flirting with being declared uninhabitable if not attended to as a consequence of long-deferred maintenance.
McDonald focused on the current conditions. “I was over there (the Linden Street property) last week and spent time with the residents and the tenants association,” she said. “I was really quite shocked at the condition of the buildings and the maintenance over there.”
“There was a step that obviously needed to be repaired. It should have been taken care of immediately. I mean, that seemed like a very simple fix to me.
“The overall picture I get is that the place has sort of been left to be run down. It hasn’t been maintained and taken care of, at least from an outside appearance.”
The NHA commissioned a study of the merits of rehab vs. a new build at Linden which noted “because of the age, type of construction and configuration, these buildings do not lend themselves to renovation. Only a limited portion of the existing structures could be re-used.”
Engler agrees that day-to-day maintenance is important, but says regretting the deferred maintenance is not going to change the need to act.
“I think the new build is the way to go; I think it’s more efficient,” Engler said. “It’s easier to build new than it is to do gut rehabs — not universally and unequivocally — but it is a bit simpler.
Asked if she would have approved the plan for Linden, McDonald said she has not seen it. “Honestly, I can’t answer that because I wasn’t there, so I didn’t partake in how all of that transpired.”
In many ways the “rehab vs. new build” argument is moot, given that the NHA has a complete plan it submitted for state, federal and private funding in late February. No more town money is expected to be required for Linden Terrace beyond the $5.5 million in CPA funds already committed. It would support a $58 million Phase 1A, which tears down 40 of the current studio units and replaces them with 76 new one-bedroom units in a four-story building. The town has already contributed $1.4 million in CPA funds which has been spent on pre-development planning.
“I think one of the tough questions right now is the transparency around the funding. I think that needs to be clearer for people to understand as to what’s being asked of us as a town,” said McDonald.
Prior to submitting its application on the Linden project, the NHA participated in more than 40 public discussions related both to its development plans and the funding, including at multiple meetings of the Select Board, Planning Board, Conservation Commission and Board of Health. The Finance Committee and the Select Board both recommended Town Meeting approve the $5.5 million CPA award, which was voted on in October 2024.
The NHA is also in line to receive an additional $3.2 million in CPA funds in this year’s funding round to be dedicated to a $20 million restoration project at Seabeds, an award that received unanimous support this week from the Finance Committee.
Any CPA money for Linden and Seabeds will not be handed over until construction has been completed. The town also has the option of rescinding the money if either project stalls and is presumed untenable.
McDonald said her goal is to listen. “I’m not an expert on any of these things by any means and I’m just getting into it now. I’m not a member of the board yet, but when I am a member of the board I plan to ask the tough questions, listen to all sides, take notes, and then ask the experts.”
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