Mayor Walsh announces more than $28M to support affordable housing in Boston

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced $28 million in funding awards to support the creation of affordable housing throughout Boston.  The funding, which will preserve or produce 837 housing units, comes from $21 million of federal and local resources awarded through the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) and $7 million of Linkage funds, awarded through Boston's Neighborhood Housing Trust.  

"We are committed to creating a Boston where everyone who wants to live here, can afford to," said Mayor Walsh. "I thank our local, state and federal partners for these housing investments that create good jobs and fuel our economy."

The new funding will leverage more than $323 million dollars of public and private investment in the neighborhoods, and will help to create an estimated 500 construction jobs. These developments will also create 125 units for homeless or extremely low-income families.   

In the interest of using resources for projects that meet the goals of the Mayor's housing plan, the Requests for Proposals for these funds outlined specific criteria by which projects were evaluated.  These criteria included:

• Affordable housing developments that utilize City owned land.
• Developments with costs below the per unit limits, and do not rely on constrained resources (i.e. 9% credits), so that the project may move into development and construction more quickly.
• Affordable housing developments that provide units that serve the disabled community, vulnerable or special needs populations, elders, veterans, artists, or aging-out youth.
• Acquisition of unrestricted housing developments in order to stabilize tenancies and provide long-term affordability for a mix of incomes.
• Developments that are at high risk of losing their affordability within five years.

With the awarding of these funds, the Walsh Administration has now made more than $66 million in affordable housing available since Mayor Walsh took office.

Following is a complete list of the developments that have received funding awards:

Chinatown:

Boylston Street Rehabilitation
St. Francis House and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs are proposing to redevelop 48 Boylston Street in downtown Boston into affordable housing that that will create 46 units, of which 26 units will be set-aside for homeless and extremely low income individuals.

Quincy Towers
Beacon Communities is proposing an acquisition rehabilitation project that will preserve in perpetuity 100 percent of the affordability for this 161-unit elderly housing development in Chinatown. The RAP contract is scheduled to expire in June of 2017 and the Section 236 mortgage will mature in March of 2019.

Dorchester:

Wayne at Schuyler
Cruz Development is proposing the refinance and renovation of the 74-unit expiring-use project located at seven different properties in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan.

1392 Dorchester St. & 17-21 Faulkner
Viet AID is proposing to provide critical repairs and façade improvements in order to preserve these 18 units of affordable housing.

Jamaica Plain:

General Heath Square Apartments
Back of the Hill NDC and Jamaica Plain NDC have partnered to create a 47 unit transit-oriented development on underutilized land that is currently owned by the City of Boston. The developer was tentatively designated by the City after receiving the support of the community.

Parcel U
The Community Builders are proposing to create 76 units of housing in this transit-oriented development.  The development will include 38 affordable units with four units set aside for homeless households.

Mattapan:

Cote Village
Caribbean Integration Community Development, AFL-CIO and Planning Office for Urban Affairs have partnered to create a 76 unit mixed-use development, located on City-owned land that has been vacant for several years.  The development will include one large building and four townhouse-style dwellings.

Olmsted Green Mixed Income Rental
Lena New Boston is proposing to create a 100-unit, mixed-income rental development in 24 townhouse buildings on the former Mattapan State Hospital site.  The developer is working with the Department of Mental Health to set aside units to provide housing for their clients.

Roxbury:

Washington Westminster House
Elizabeth Stone House will create a 29-unit development serving at-risk and formerly homeless families with children.

Madison Melnea Cass Apartments
Madison Park Development Corporation, the Boston Housing Authority, and Preservation for Affordable Housing have joined together to create this 76 unit development.  This development is also part of the innovative redevelopment of the Whittier Street public housing development.

Whittier Street Apartments, Phase I
Preservation for Affordable Housing, the Boston Housing Authority, and Madison Park Development Corporation will together create an 88-unit mixed-use development.  This development is the first phase of an innovative redevelopment of the Whittier Street public housing development.

South Boston:

O'Connor Way
South Boston NDC and Caritas Communities have partnered to create a 46-unit elderly housing development in South Boston on land owned by the Boston Housing Authority. The developer has been tentatively designated by the BHA after receiving community support for the development.