WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the Affordable Housing Trust last week met with a consultant from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership to talk about what sorts of initiatives the trustees should explore.

 

"This is a common place for trusts to get to," said Shelly Goehring, the senior program manager at MHP. "The needs in our communities are great. The resources are never enough. So figuring out how to move forward can be a struggle."

 

Goehring provided a statewide perspective on some of the projects that have been funded by trusts in other municipalities. And she told the local board that it should develop a mission statement to bring its work into focus.

 

"If you don't have a mission statement, I think taking some time to develop a simple statement to identify your niche and your role in the community is helpful," Goehring said, telling the trustees that she could not find a mission statement on the AHT's page on the town's website. "If you have one, maybe relook at it.

 

"[The mission statement] also helps the community understand how you see your role and what you're focused on. Having this on the webpage could be really useful."

 

Although the AHT board has never gone through a mission statement exercise, it can look to the "purpose" clause in the 2012 bylaw that created the trust, which reads:

 

"The purpose of the Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust shall be to provide for the creation and preservation of affordable housing in the Town of Williamstown for the benefit of low- and moderate-income households and for the funding of community housing, as defined in and in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44B. Without limiting the foregoing, such purposes shall include the acquisition, creation, preservation and support of community housing."