Jamaica Plain News (https://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/tag/affordable-housing/page/2)
(Jamaica) Plain and simple -- what is the biggest issue in Jamaica Plain? At the Wake Up the Earth Festival, Jamaica Plain News asked people to name what they think is the biggest issue in JP. And several topics continued to come up. Overwhelmingly people said either gentrification or housing affordability. Other issues were named as you can see below.
The Boston Housing Authority has designated Amory Partners, a joint venture of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., Urban Edge and The Community Builders, to redevelop 125 Amory St., a 215-unit public housing for elderly and disabled near Jackson Square. In a press release, the Housing Authority said, "Some of the key features and determining factors of the selection include preservation of existing public housing units and generation of up to $3 million in cross subsidy from new mixed income units. The second component is the new connection to the surrounding neighborhood to create a more integrated development. The final design will include a total of 509 units of which 185 will be market rate and 324 workforce/affordable." Amory Partners will add 214 new apartments in satellite buildings on the vacant land of the site around the main building of Amory Apartments.
Obtaining funding for public housing projects is frequently a challenge. "I'm convinced that the funding for public housing as we know it is gone and it's not coming back," Boston Housing Authority director Bill McGonagle told the Bay State Banner in January, noting that the Department of Housing and Urban Development was pushing housing authorities in the direction of public-private partnerships. This is being done at Amory Street Apartments, 125 Amory St., under the HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration program authorized by Congress in 2012. Amory Street Apartments has 215 units of mostly studio and one-bedrooms; it opened in April 1973. In 2013, the BHA was one of 68 housing authorities nationwide selected by HUD to participate in RAD. RAD allows housing authorities to form partnerships with private or non-profit developers to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in public housing stock according to the HUD announcement.
The three-person I-Team of the Boston's Housing Innovation Lab has quite the challenge -- keep Boston a city that isn't just for the rich and the poor -- and places that the working middle class can still call home. Funded by a three-year $1.3 million Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Team grant, the lab is guided by a planner, an educator and an artist -- an intellectually diverse team assembled to address the challenge of building and sustaining housing in Boston for middle-income working families. There are two co-chairs: Susan Nguyen and Marcy Ostberg. Nguyen was program director at the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, which houses the Housing Lab. She has a master's degree in urban planning from the Harvard School of Design.
More than 150 people from across Jamaica Plain gathered at English High School Wednesday evening to look into their crystal ball to see what Jamaica Plain - specifically the 257 acres from Forest Hills to Jackson Square would look like in the next five to 10 years. The workshop was the first one in the process called Plan JP/Rox Washington Street. "This is long range planning. We got a lot of feedback [since the July 28th open house]; over 850 comments. Our staff looked at every one and out of those we formed four themes: Community resiliency.
Tuesday marks the kickoff of a city-sponsored review of what Washington Street should be like from Forest Hills to Jackson Square. A lot of interests will be in play as residents and officials build that master plan. Expect many of those voices to come from JP-based City Life/Vida Urbana, a tenants' rights organization. Jamaica Plain News recently walked Washington Street with María Christina Blanco, a lead organizer with City Life. The city has dubbed the planning effort "Plan JP/Rox: Preserve.
What began exactly a year ago on July 23, 2014 when the Egleston Square Neighborhood Association got a premier showing of the plans for the Economy Plumbing site is no closer to approval. For the second time, the developers of 3200 Washington St. asked the Zoning Board of Appeals for deferment at its scheduled hearing on Tuesday. Speaking on behalf of local developers Justin Iantosca and Dan Mangiacotti, Attorney Joe Hanley requested the deferral because "we are still finalizing the Article 80 Large Project Review application" for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The development team is now scheduled for the Zoning Board hearing on Tuesday, Sept 15.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday announced a lottery for 37 affordable apartments in Olmsted Place, a luxury complex overlooking Leverett Pond and Olmsted Park. The development has been a center of controversy, including a lawsuit by the JP Neighborhood Council that led to the developer creating a $150,000 mitigation fund. That money will be split between two JP non-profits, with most of it going to City Life/Vida Urbana to aid in tenant organizing. The market-rate units at Olmsted Place begin at $2,600 a month, according to the development's website. Below is the announcement from the BRA, including important details on income limits and how to apply.
Earlier this year, Mayor Marty Walsh told Jamaica Plain News and other community newspapers how he plans to keep people from being forced out of Boston by the high costs of rent and sales prices: "The key is to increase the supply of housing." Last October, the mayor released his housing committee report which stated Boston needs to build 53,000 housing units by 2030 to keep pace with increasing prices that are squeezing out low- and middle-income residents. The construction of new housing is booming; from Northern Avenue to North Station there are either completed or under construction thirteen towers with total of 3,268 units of rental or condo homes. In Forest Hills alone, there are either under construction or approved three developments with a total of 536 rental or ownership units; combine that with Olmsted Place at 161 S. Huntington Avenue and the number jumps to 731 units. Can We Build Out of The Affordability Crisis?
"The force of youth" it was called by organizer Maya Gaul, a lifelong resident of School Street. It was nothing less than an amazing and spirited rally for the soul of Jamaica Plain; never before seen in Egleston Square in this observer's 40 years in the neighborhood. On a mellow Wednesday evening, more than 50 youth and adults gathered in the Peace Park at Egleston Square to demand 100 percent affordability at the development of 3200 Washington St. Specifically, the group wants housing to be affordable for families earning $26,000 a year. The current proposal calls for 12 of the 76 housing units of a five-six story development to be what the city of Boston considers affordable.