Boston allocates over $34 million to build and preserve 841 affordable housing units

A rendering of the proposed Mildred C. Hailey Development in Jamaica Plain. The initial phases of the project will get $6 million from the city. David Carrico

By Mark Gartsbeyn

March 15, 2021

2 minutes to read

Boston has earmarked $34 million to build and preserve 841 affordable housing units across the city, Mayor Marty Walsh announced earlier this month.

The new funds, which are roughly equal to the cost of a single Back Bay penthouse sold last year, will go toward creating 608 new income-restricted units and preserving 233 existing units. Nearly 200 of those units will be set aside as permanent housing for people and families who are homeless, and others are reserved for seniors and adults recovering from substance use. Some units will be available to own instead of rent.

“Everyone deserves a place to call home, and this funding will go a long way towards making that reality for so many people,” Walsh said in a statement.

The mayor sought proposals from affordable housing developers in August and settled on funding 15 projects. Developers must keep the income-restricted units affordable in the long term, with all rental projects permanently deed-restricted and all homeownership projects deed-restricted for 50 years. They must also each carve out at least 10% of their units for homeless households, and all new affordable housing funded by the city has to abide by zero-emissions standards.

The funds include $16.4 million administered by the Department of Neighborhood Development, and another $14 million comes from the Neighborhood Housing Trust, which pulled payments from developers of large commercial projects through the city’s Linkage program. The last $3.6 million comes from the Community Preservation Act, which established a one percent property tax surcharge in 2017 after local voters passed a ballot measure the year before.

The largest grant of $6 million will go to the initial phases of redevelopment at the Mildred Hailey Apartments (formerly known as Bromley-Heath) in Jamaica Plain. The project will see 234 new units as the complex expands.

The remaining projects receiving funding will acquire, renovate, or construct:

210 units at 140 Clarendon Street in the heart of Back Bay, including 111 supportive housing units for homeless residents
80 units for homeownership at West Main Street in Mattapan for the Olmsted Ownership II development
75 units for seniors at the former William Barton Rogers School in Hyde Park, which will also be the city’s first LGBTQ-supported development for seniors
52 units at 135 Dudley Street in Roxbury’s Nubian Square
39 units for seniors at 3371 Washington Street west of Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain
33 units at Carol Avenue Apartments in Brighton off the “B”-branch of the Green Line
27 units at the fully-subsidized Burbank Terrace, which will be built on a rare vacant site in Fenway
23 units for homeless families at 37 Wales Street in Dorchester by Franklin Park
15 units at 6 Quint Avenue in Allston near Ringer Park, with 14 set as permanently affordable units for extremely low-income individuals in recovery
15 units at 120-122 Hancock Street at Jones Hill in Dorchester
13 units for homeownership at 405 Washington Street in the Four Corners section of Dorchester
12 energy-efficient units for the Marcella Highland development in Roxbury, east of Jackson Square
Eight units at the Norwell Townhouses near Codman Square in Dorchester
Five units at 34 East Springfield Street, a rowhouse in the South End