Boston, Harvard announce affordable housing funding — Harvard Gazette

Celebrating the funding of more than $60 million to create and preserve affordable housing throughout Boston, Harvard Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick welcomed city leadership — including Mayor Michelle Wu’s chief of staff, Tiffany Chu, and chief of housing, Sheila Dillon — to the Harvard Ed Portal in Allston to announce awards for 12 projects.

“We know that the housing crisis is one of the biggest sources of stress for families in our city, and that’s why every action we need to take creates more housing production and ensures affordability,” Chu said. “The 12 projects receiving funding here today include affordable units for rent and purchase, affordable housing, senior housing, supportive housing, and will be built on both public and private land.”

“At a time when affordable housing need has never been greater, these awards are an important step forward,” said Weenick. “We’re proud to partner in this effort, and I want to recognize that it takes a village to support these types of projects. All of you have so many partners, including the city, and we’re lucky to have such terrific partners all across our neighborhood.”

Once complete, the funded projects will provide 637 units of income-restricted housing in the neighborhoods of Allston, Brighton, Chinatown, Dorchester, Fenway, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill, and Roxbury.

The Harvard-enabled Allston projects included in this funding announcement are the creation of 43 affordable homeownership units on land donated by Harvard at 65 Seattle St. in Allston, and the transformation of the historic Hill Memorial Baptist Church on North Harvard St. into 49 affordable rental units for Boston seniors. Harvard contributed $4.8 million to fully fund site acquisition for the latter. 

“As a longtime member of the Allston-Brighton community, Harvard has developed a complex housing strategy that adapts to the dynamic needs of city requirements and city residents,” Weenick said. “And we are excited to be involved in enabling two of the projects that will be announced today. These two projects represent nearly 100 units of affordable housing in Allston and they exemplify what we can activate through creativity, responsiveness, and partnership.”

Harvard’s efforts beyond the campus in Allston already have enabled more than 1,300 new housing units, approximately 25 percent of which are affordable. Harvard donated land at the former site of Brookline Machine at 90 Antwerp St., enabling the creation of 20 homeownership units, 12 of which are affordable. Through regulatory agreements associated with construction of the Enterprise Research Campus, Havard has committed $25 million over 12 years to support affordable housing creation in the neighborhood and will ensure that 20 percent of the residential units in the ERC are affordable.

Additionally, the Harvard-funded All Bright Homeownership Program supports homeownership stabilization in Allston-Brighton by enabling the Allston Brighton Community Development Corp. to purchase and resell homes with deed restrictions to ensure housing remains owner-occupied. On a regional scale, the long-standing Harvard Local Housing Collaborative has funded more than $20 million in low-interest revolving loans since its creation in 2000, helping create and preserve more than 7,000 units of affordable housing in Greater Boston.

According to Boston officials, all of the new construction projects funded in this round will be required to follow the Zero Emissions Building requirements outlined in the MOH Design Standards, and new developments will use electricity and on-site solar panels as the sole (or primary) fuel sources. 

Expressing appreciation for the award recipients, Dillon remarked, “You responded to our request for proposals and our funding awards, because you seized an opportunity out there. You saw a great development idea. You put together quality applications. You agreed to make your developments carbon-neutral, and have made commitments to ensure that local businesses, local Boston businesses, are benefiting from this economic activity. Your housing developments will not only house our residents, but they’ll contribute to Boston’s climate goals and economic equity goals, so thank you for all that you have done through this funding round.”

“We’re delighted to celebrate this milestone with all of you. The announcement of these awards is not just financially significant, but is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the effort to create and preserve housing throughout the city of Boston,” stated Weenick.

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