Mayor Menino Announces $11M in Federal Funds for Two Affordable Senior Housing Developments
Highlights Long-Awaited Funding as Catalyst for Urban Projects After Years of Reductions
January 21, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced that a total of $11,368,500 in federal funding for two new affordable housing development projects for the elderly in Dorchester and West Roxbury, and said the financing would make possible the construction of 110 new units for some of the City’s most vulnerable residents. The funding, which was announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) earlier this week, is part of HUD’s Section 202 Capital Advance Program which provides a subsidy source for the development of low-income elderly housing.
“This is great news for our partners in the local development community, and it is great news for our senior citizens,” said Mayor Menino. “This federal funding means that two good, affordable housing projects in the neighborhoods will now be able to move forward.”
The 202 Capital Advance Program provides both construction and operating subsidies to elderly rental developments serving individuals or households earning at or below 30% Area Median Income (AMI). Developers are expected to realize negative operating revenue each year, after which, subject to an annual HUD audit, 202 funds will cover the yearly losses based on an approved budget.
$5,305,300 in funding has been committed to Dorchester’s Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation for their development known as Quincy Commons at the corner of Quincy Street and Blue Hill Avenue, across from the Early Learning Center. The project will create 40 new units of affordable housing for elderly residents with income at 30% and 60% of the Area Median Income, according to guidelines set by HUD. The multi-level facility will also include 5,000 square-feet of new commercial space on Blue Hill Avenue, for which off-street parking and an off-street loading area will also be provided. The project is currently undergoing the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s (BRA) Article 80 project review.
Quincy Commons will be built on two formerly City-owned parcels and five contiguous private parcels of land totaling 43,434 square-feet, which have sat vacant since the early 1970s. The development of these parcels represents among the last of the large vacant pieces of land along Blue Hill Avenue, and is reflective of the Mayor’s Blue Hill Avenue Initiative, which began in 1993 and was designed to revitalize the area with new development. In addition, the project is located in one the City’s Foreclosure Intervention (FIT) areas, known the Dacia Street FIT area.
Nuestra Communidad has partnered with locally based elderly services coordinator, New Communities Services Inc., to manage the residence at Quincy Commons. New Communities already manages two affordable rental properties in Dorchester and Roxbury. The project will to provide 15 new permanent jobs and 60 construction jobs for area residents.
$6,063,200 in Section 202 funding will also benefit West Roxbury’s Cheriton Heights, a 70-unit elderly rental housing project that is being developed by the Arab American Benevolence Association (AABA) with the assistance of The Community Builders (TCB).
Located adjacent to the AABA’s existing Cheriton Grove elderly rental property, Cheriton Heights will provide 70 new rental units, 40 of which will be reserved for low income senior residents earning at or below 30% of HUD’s Area Median Income (AMI), 23-units serving seniors earning at or below 60% AMI, and an additional 7 market rate units. Residents of the new housing development will benefit from a number of services already available to tenants of Cheriton Grove.
The project, which has undergone the BRA Article 80 project review, has already received $1,000,000 in federal HOME monies through City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), as well as $700,000 from Boston’s Neighborhood Housing Trust. AABA has also filed applications for tax credit funding from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development, as well additional state funding about which they expect to hear in late March. Cheriton Heights is currently undergoing BRA and DND design review process.
Contact:
Lucy Warsh
lwarsh.dnd (at) cityofboston (dot) gov
