Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced Tuesday that $28 million in funding awards will go toward creating affordable housing within the City of Boston, according to a Tuesday press release.
The Department of Neighborhood Development is providing $21 million of federal and local resources and an additional $7 million is coming from Linkage funds, provided by the Boston’s Neighborhood Housing Trust, according to the release.
“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,” the release stated. “These developments will also create 125 units for homeless or extremely low-income families.”
Sheila Dillon, director of the Department of Neighborhood Development, said the projects that received funding were carefully chosen through specific criteria.
“The DND underwrites every application that comes in for funding, and we are looking for specific things,” Dillon said. “We are looking for projects that provide affordable housing or mixed income, good design, projects that use funds efficiently and developers who have worked with the neighborhood and could have very good dialogue with them prior to seeking funding.”
Dillon also explained the impact that this funding will have on Boston residents.
“We have many low-income residents in the city right now that are paying more than 50 percent of their income towards rent, so we know that to keep long-term residents in the City of Boston, we need to provide additional affordable housing,” Dillon said. “We are hoping that this new housing provides over 800 new homes to low-income families and individuals.”
Jennifer Raitt, a professor of city planning and urban affairs in Boston University’s Metropolitan College, wrote in an email that she is pleased with the city’s funding toward affordable housing.
“Having served on the Mayor’s Housing Task Force that helped create Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030, I am extremely pleased to see the Walsh administration make these investments in the creation and preservation of much needed affordable housing across the city,” Raitt wrote in the email. “The Mayor’s housing plan calls for 6,500 more affordable units by 2030 and this is just the beginning of the city working toward that goal.”
The release stated that since Walsh took office, more than $66 million in affordable housing, including the most recent funding, has been made available to residents of Boston.
“We are committed to creating a Boston where everyone who wants to live here can afford to,” Walsh said in the release. “I thank our local, state and federal partners for these housing investments that create good jobs and fuel our economy.”
Several Boston residents praised Walsh’s efforts and said they believe the funding will greatly improve the city’s housing options.
Rachel Cuozzo, 22, of Beacon Hill, said this funding could promote diversity in Boston neighborhoods.
“Coming from an area with very little diversity, I think it is very positive that other neighborhoods could have affordable housing,” she said. “It is sad to see people pushed out from where they grew up because they can’t afford it anymore, but maybe now they’ll have the chance to return.”
Ryan Grant, 31, of Dorchester, said he considers this a great initiative but that the quality of the buildings should be a priority.
“Hearing that the city is implementing affordable housing solidifies the fact that Mayor Walsh cares about the disenfranchised people,” he said. “My only concern would be the quality of these buildings. We have seen cases of poorly built buildings in the past, and I think there must be thorough regulations with this.”
Grant suggested that the city go one step further than just creating more affordable housing.
“You should not only give the poor a place to live, but a quality home in which you would want to live in yourself,” he said.
Ethan Leavitt, 25, of Allston, said even though the funding doesn’t impact the area where he lives, it could still benefit lower-income populations in the city.
“Boston is a very expensive city to live in,” he said, “so if in any way this funding can help make it more affordable, I’m all for it.”
Everyone wants good, safe, affordable housing but no one wants to pay for it.