More Affordable Housing Could Be in Boston’s Future
The Hub could see as many as a thousand new affordable apartments and condos built over the next few years.
Starved for new housing, Boston is about to get a big infusion of new apartments with some of the lowest rents seen in years.
The Hub could see as many as a thousand new affordable apartments and condos built over the next few years under a new initiative unveiled by Mayor Marty Walsh.
The Department of Neighborhood Development has allotted $20 million in funding for developers interested in building low cost housing across the city.
In exchange for what could be a make or break financial boost, developers will agree to build rent-capped apartments within reach of a wide range of city residents, from the homeless to low and even middle-income workers struggling with some of the highest rents in the country.
It is the largest single block of money the city has given out for the development of affordable housing in several years, notes Sheila Dillon, Boston’s housing chief and director of the Department of Neighborhood Development.
The initiative also comes at a time when there has been explosion in the number of luxury apartment towers downtown, with little if any other new housing.
“We know there are many households paying more than 50 percent of their incomes in rent,’’ Dillon said. “There is a great need out there.’’
So far, 20 different developers have expressed interest in taking advantage of the city’s offer, with projects totaling more than 800 new apartments, Dillon said. City officials will also consider condo projects, though the emphasis is on rental projects.
Rents would be capped based on the tenant’s income, ranging from $371 in an SRO unit for a formerly homeless person to just under $1,700 in a two bedroom for a couple making 80 percent of the area’s median income ($60,200).
The median rent for the Boston area is now $2,137, Zillow.com reports.
City officials expect to see proposals from developers for affordable projects in a wide range of neighborhoods, including Mission Hill, Allston-Brighton, East Boston, Mattapan, downtown, Fenway, Hyde Park, Dorchester, South Boston, and Roxbury/Lower Roxbury, Dillon said.
The $20 million in affordable money is divided into two separate blocks, each worth $10 million, with the total expected to leverage as much as $100 million in new development, she said. Developers with plans to build affordable housing will typically cobble together several funding sources at the state and federal level as well, in addition to private financing.
Developers have until February 17 to get their applications in, with city officials looking for proposals that are already substantially teed up and can be ready to break ground later in 2015 or early 2016.
“This is a very large funding round for the city of Boston,’’ Dillon said. “We want to put a lot of resources out on the street.’’
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