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City of Boston American Rescue Plan Housing Funding

The City of Boston has allocated $236 million in American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding to housing.

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The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 delivered $350 billion to  state and local governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Boston was allocated $560 million of this funding, which is intended to support a strong, resilient and equitable recovery. Given the critical role of safe, stable and affordable housing in the City’s recovery, $234 million in ARPA funding has been allocated for housing. ARPA regulations require the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) to commit these funds by the end of 2024 and spend them by the end of 2026.

News

"Peace Institute gets okay for Westville Street headquarters"

Dorchester Reporter
"Massachusetts’ climate and housing crises are intertwined. Some architects are looking to tackle both with green renovations."

The Boston Globe
"What’s happened in the year since Boston mayor offered free land for housing?"

WCVB
'Boston offers $50K loans in green buildings push'

MassLive
'Mayor Wu announces steps to cut oil and gas from Boston buildings, creating "clear pathways" to a fossil-free future'

The Boston Globe
'Wu moves to adopt new building code to reduce emissions'

Boston Business Journal
'Artists purchase Humphreys Street Studios, with help from a developer and the city'

WBUR
'Artists at Humphreys Street Studios secure their space'

The Boston Globe
'East Boston housing project will keep hundreds of residents in their homes'

WGBH
'In East Boston, a big move to keep renters in their homes'

The Boston Globe

Specific Projects (Ongoing)

Specific Projects (Ongoing)

Welcome Home, Boston is fast tracking the production of new affordable homes by making 150 parcels of City-owned land available for new homeownership opportunities in Boston’s neighborhoods.

ARPA funding is being used to subsidize development on these sites to ensure the homeownership is accessible to low, moderate, and middle income households.  We first engaged the community about 70 City-owned lots just north and south of Harambee Park on Blue Hill Avenue where these new homes will become a reality. The first groups of developers have been selected and plans are being developed for 179 new units. For more details, please email antonio.leite@boston.gov.

ARPA funding will be used to transform unused or underutilized public land into vibrant mixed-income, eco-friendly communities with deeply affordable multi-family rental housing. These communities will be designed to be carbon neutral and transit-oriented and may explore the use of innovative approaches such as prefabricated or modular housing. MOH partnered with BPDA and the Streets cabinet to identify priority sites and conduct feasibility analyses for sites in Chinatown, Roxbury and Charlestown. MOH and BPDA collected community feedback for the sites in Chinatown, Charlestown, and Roxbury. Developers have been selected for all sites. For more details, please email stephanie.silva2@boston.gov.

MOH  is using ARPA funding to help responsible developers buy property in areas where lower-income tenants are at risk of displacement. Working with community partners, this project keeps tenants in place and guarantees permanent affordability. As of September 2024, 308 units have been purchased:

  • Blue Line Portfolio, East Boston: 114 units in 36 buildings 
  • 64 Beach Street, Chinatown: 14 units
  • Vertullo Building, Hyde Park: 4 units
  • 102-104 Bellevue Street, Dorchester: 6 units 
  • 8 Oxford Place, Chinatown: 4 units
  • 49 Gardner Street, Allston: 11 units
  • 43 Hemenway Street, Fenway: 6 units
  • 158 Quincy Street,  Roxbury: 3 units
  • 28 Ballou Avenue, Mattapan: 3 units
  • 11 Hansborough Street, Mattapan: 3 units
  • 7 Payson Avenue, Dorchester: 3 units
  • Warren Hall Building, Brighton, 33 units
  • Taurus at Fountain Hill, 74 units
  • 8 Elizabeth, 4 Summer and 104-110 Winthrop, 30 units

For more details, please email christine.okeefe@boston.gov.

Emissions from buildings account for 70 percent of Boston’s greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve a Green New Deal for Boston, it is necessary to retrofit existing buildings with components like new windows, better insulation, and efficient electric appliances, which save energy and cut emissions. These upgrades help eliminate fossil fuel usage, improve indoor air quality, make the buildings healthier and more comfortable, and help lower energy bills.

In partnership with the Boston Environment Department, MOH is administering two programs that will use ARPA funds to support deep energy retrofits in affordable housing — reducing energy use by 50% in these buildings. One of the programs, launched in March 2023, will support construction in larger multi-family buildings, and one will help owner-occupants of small buildings make these improvements. The first phase of the small building project launched in Fall 2023. These programs will transform housing for owners and residents, and demonstrate that low-carbon, energy-efficient and resilient design can and should be accessible to all.  For more details, please email  joseph.backer@boston.gov.

The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) is using ARPA funding to improve ventilation and windows across 1,040 public housing units. These investments will improve air quality, increase efficiency and improve resident comfort and lower the risk of environmentally-triggered health conditions like asthma. For more details, please email joel.wool@bostonhousing.org.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the humanitarian crisis at Mass/Cass have highlighted the urgent need for permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. ARPA funding will be used to support the creation of permanent supportive housing with specialized services, like social work and medical support. MOH is working with a variety of partners to acquire sites, identify existing buildings that can be repurposed, and secure ongoing funding for services with a goal of creating 1,000 units. For more details, please email adam.goldstein@boston.gov.

In response to the humanitarian crisis at Mass/Cass, MOH partnered with the Boston Public Health Commission and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in late 2021 to create six low threshold transitional housing sites for people experiencing homelessness who also have a substance use disorder. These sites offer a safe place to live and vital support services, including housing search and placement for vulnerable individuals. ARPA funding is being used to extend the four City-funded  sites through at least Fiscal Year 2024 while we work to find permanent housing for the inhabitants.  For more details, please email nathan.satish@boston.gov.

The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) wired 17 public housing communities across Boston in order to provide free Wi-Fi and expand internet access for some of Boston’s most vulnerable residents. Alongside the installation of hardware, BHA is continuing its ongoing digital equity efforts related to infrastructure investments, digital literacy, and technology. For more details, please email joel.wool@bostonhousing.org.

The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) expanded programming to support the hardest hit renters with housing search and stabilization services. For more details, please email joel.wool@bostonhousing.org.

Working with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement, Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI), and other community organizations, MOH used ARPA funding to address the influx of migrants coming to health centers and hospital emergency rooms by creating more temporary-to-permanent housing solutions outside of the shelter and hotel system. For more details, please email danielle.johnson@boston.gov.

MOH and the Office of Returning Citizens distributed ARPA funding to three programs for this project. The programs are implementing a rapid rehousing for City of Boston residents leaving incarceration who also have a history of experiencing homelessness. The participants in the program will be provided housing and intensive case management and supportive services to help them transition to permanent housing and jobs over two years. For more details, please email kimberly.rhoten@boston.gov.

GrowBoston, an initiative within MOH, and the Office of Food Justice (OFJ) are deploying ARPA funds to expand funding for neighborhood food systems. 

Specifically, GrowBoston will build two rooftop farms, with produce directed towards low-income residents, as well as 800 raised beds for low-income households, to be built at private homes as well as at partner public agencies and community-based organizations. GrowBoston will oversee education programming and network-building to equip residents with the skills and knowledge to be able to confidently grow their own food. 

To date, GrowBoston has built one rooftop farm at BMC and has selected the second rooftop farm site. About one third of the raised beds have been constructed, along with educational workshops and materials distributed to these residents. The non-profit and farm business partners have all been selected for the next round of raised bed construction. For more details please email emily.reckardmota@boston.gov. 

Specific Projects (Completed)

Specific Projects (Completed)

The Boston Home Center  is helping more Bostonians become homeowners. BHC teaches potential homeowners what they need to know to buy a home, repair their credit, and pre-qualify for new City of Boston-backed mortgage products. The Boston Home Center is using ARPA funding to help low, moderate, and middle-income buyers qualify for lower mortgage interest rates and contribute to their down payments. This project has helped dozens of new homeowners already, with enhanced down payment grants of up to $50,000 and interest rate subsidies of up to $75,000. For more details, please email homecenter@boston.gov. The Boston Home Center has assisted 164 homebuyers with ARPA funds - $3,722,013.64 in down payment and closing cost assistance and $1,657,857.15 in interest rate subsidy.  Seventy-four percent of these buyers were BIPOC households.

This program helped Boston homeowners at risk for foreclosure remain in their homes, providing stability for those homeowners and neighborhoods who have historically experienced high foreclosure rates, all of them majority-minority neighborhoods. In total, MOH provided financial assistance to 98 low- and moderate-income homeowners facing foreclosure.

This program provided an incentive, in the form of a $5,000 grant, to low- and moderate-income homebuyers who enrolled in a credit boot camp or counseling program at an approved non-profit partner agency and successfully increased their credit scores. In total, grants were provided to 145 Bostonians.

This was a pilot program that provided cash assistance to 500 BHA households with children. Modeled after cash relief programs across the U.S., the goals of this pilot were to promote stability for low income households with children transitioning into BHA housing programs and to foster economic mobility during the pandemic and recovery. Pilot participants were randomly selected by lottery to receive a one-time, non-recurring payment of $1,500. These payments were unconditional and enabled recipients to make their own decision on how to spend the assistance. BHA will be evaluating this pilot in collaboration with the BU Metrobridge program to understand the impact of cash relief on family well being, economic stability, and the ability to access food.

In 2022, MOH used ARPA funding to unite social service providers, medical providers, and other relevant stakeholders to coordinate care for households who have been impacted by violence in their communities. Many of the households assisted through this coordination are households of color, oftentimes single female heads of household, who are caring for children and other loved ones in the aftermath of community violence. 

This project helps impacted households reestablish a sense of safety by facilitating connections to new housing. As of March 2023 , the City has provided support to 22 families.

Humphreys Street Studios, located at 11-13 Humphreys Street in Uphams Corner, is an important hub of artistic and creative sector businesses. After the property was listed for sale, the tenants worked to buy the property and preserve over three dozen artist studios. The acquisition of the property was curated by New Atlantic Development, with funding from nonprofit funders BlueHub Capital and LISC,  and a total $1.7 million investment from the City of Boston. This project was supported by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, the Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, MOH, and the surrounding community and local elected officials.

The East Boston Blue Line Portfolio was the biggest ARPA-funded housing acquisition to date and resulted in 114 unrestricted units becoming permanently affordable housing. The units are spread throughout East Boston, a neighborhood that has historically been an affordable place for immigrants and families to call home, but which has seen some of the highest percentage rent increases in the City over the last decade. 

The $47 million acquisition was made possible by a $12 million investment by the City, including $9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, $2 million from the CARES Act,  $1 million in Inclusionary Development funds and other philanthropic support. The East Boston Community Development Corporation worked in partnership with local investors to convert the portfolio to the state’s first ever Mixed Income Neighborhood Trust (MINT). The MINT model places governance and control of the portfolio in the hands of a local purpose trust, while financial investors hold the economic interest in the portfolio.

 In addition to a City deed restriction which will ensure that the units are income restricted in perpetuity, this new model empowers the local community to address displacement by placing governance, ownership, and management in the hands of a community trust.

 

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