Jackson Street Group Home opens

July 27, 2011
Jackson Street Group Home opens
By Harry Kane
The Walnut Street Center has expanded, and now a new group home for handicapped adults opened last Friday July, 22 on Jackson Street. “There are currently 18 of these facilities in Somerville now,” said Katherine Hardy, the Office Facilities Manager at the Walnut Street Center. “There will be 5 new tenants living at the Jackson Street facility starting in August.” The Walnut Street Center provides support services in Somerville and other nearby communities to people with developmental disabilities.
Joe Churchill, Executive Director at the Walnut Street Center said, “The Jackson Road Project represents Walnut Street Center’s continuing effort to provide excellent service delivery and state of the art facilities for the intellectually and physically impaired consumers we have pledged to serve. I intend to continue the tradition started by the Walnut Street Center over 40 years ago, to increase opportunities for our disabled consumers to live as independent and productive members of the community.”
The funding for this project was earmarked in 2003 and construction began for the facility in 2010. Juan Gomez, Finance Director at the Walnut Street Center worked in coordination with the DDS to secure funding and make the project a reality. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave $614,400 while CEDAC gave 472,629 and the City of Somerville allotted $80,000. The total cost of construction and development was $1,167,029.
John Wheeler, The President of the CARE inc., the Community Alternative Residential Environments said, “Our board’s responsibility is the financial viability and the care-taking of the facility. We make sure the resources we’ve got are being invested correctly.” This property had previously been a group home and had an open lot next to it, so this made it possible to build a larger group home. Wheeler referred to the Jackson Street Project as a “half renovation, half stick built project.”
Jim O’Dea, the Director of Residential Supports thought there were plenty of design features worth noting. “There is a lift system throughout the house so that the folks can safely get from the bedroom to the bathroom. We have the four bedrooms along the back of the house. Each of the bedrooms has access to the back deck so in an emergency we can very quickly, safely, and easily have the ability to evacuate people. In the kitchen we dropped the stove and countertops down so that the folks in wheelchairs could participate in any of the activities that took place in the kitchen. In the far bathroom we have the wide-open shower with the same track system that brings folks into that bathroom. We designed it with a lot of light with a nice bright cheery atmosphere to live in. We designed it so we could get the wheelchair van up around the back so that after activities they can get back up the ramp and into the house. Out in front we put in an elevator lift that we can use to help people get in and out of the house if need be. They kept the nice front porch so people can sit out and hang around out there, put the windows up and the screens down and just kinda enjoy the neighborhood.”

Copyright 2010 The Somerville News and Prospect Hill Publishing, Inc.
URL: http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/1753

SourceThe Somerville News

CEDAC NOT MENTIONED: Proposed Parsons Village housing in Easthampton receives $75,000 state loan

Proposed Parsons Village housing in Easthampton receives $75,000 state loan
By BARBARA SOLOW, Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON – Parsons Village, a proposed affordable housing development that has generated controversy in the city, was among seven affordable housing and child care projects named Monday as recipients of state loans.
The planned $10 million Parsons Village complex, which is being developed by Valley Community Developent Corp., was awarded a $75,000 loan from the state’s Economic Development Assistance Corp.
The CEDAC, a public-private finance agency created in 1978 to serve as a resource for nonprofit community development organizations, announced a total of $2.2 million in loan commitments to low-income housing and child care projects in Massachusetts.
A press release describing those projects stated that the 4.34-acre Parsons Village development “will meet a substantial need in Easthampton, a community with a large low- and moderate-income population and a shortage of affordable rental housing.”
Supporters of the Parsons Street project have made similar arguments at public hearings held since May. Monthly rents at the new complex would range from $555 to $1,000 per unit for tenants in the $26,000 to $50,000 annual income range.
But opponents have countered that the project does not fit with the city’s master plan because the area around the proposed site is already too densely populated.
In response to citizen concerns, the CDC recently agreed to reduce the number of units from 38 to 37 but keep the same number of bedrooms. The new design calls for six separate buildings that will house one studio apartment, eight one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom apartments.
Berkshire Design Group, the firm handling the design work, has also altered plans to ensure that all of the buildings meet city setback requriements and that parking areas conform with zoning rules prohibiting more than 14 spaces in a single parking area.
The Planning Board is scheduled to take up the Parsons Village project again Aug. 29.
After the board closes the public hearing, it has 90 days to make a decision on the project. If the application is approved, there is a 20-day appeal period.
Neither Easthampton Mayor Michael Tautznik, nor Valley CDC Director Joanne Campbell could be reached for comment Monday.

Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2011 All rights reserved
URL: http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/07/26/proposed-parsons-village-housing-receives-75k-loan

SourceDaily Hampshire Gazette via GazetteNet.com

Bridge loan sets stage for Lee rehab project

Monday July 18, 2011
Bridge loan sets stage for Lee rehab project
By Dick Lindsay, Berkshire Eagle Staff,

The Berkshire Housing Development Corp. plans on renovating 16 apartments at 57 Main and maintain them as affordable rental units. (Berkshire Eagle photo)
LEE — A regional housing agency has secured a $700,000 bridge loan that agency officials say will jump start its $2.7 million downtown housing rehabilitation project three years in the making.
Berkshire Housing Development Corp. recently received the loan from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) to be used toward the purchase of the mixed-use building at 57 Main St. from the Consolati family. A closing date is being scheduled for the end of July, according to BHDC President Elton Ogden.
CEDAC is a public-private non-profit finance agency dedicated to helping other non profits develop affordable housing, promote workforce development and create child care facilities for working parents.
BHDC plans to renovate the 16 apartments in the upper two floors at 57 Main and maintain them as affordable rental units. The first floor commercial space will continue to be occupied by Country Lady Antiques and Gifts, the Upstairs Basement consignment shop and Lee Power Equipment.
Ogden said the CEDAC loan will be repaid from a $1.8 million state grant he’s “pretty optimistic” his agency will receive, possibly in two months. A second state grant and a pair of private loans will cover the rest of the $2.7 million acquisition and renovation costs.
Berkshire Housing is anxious to begin the project.
“We’ve structured a deal to move forward before we secure the [state] funding,” Ogden said.
Since 2008, BHDC has had a purchase and sale agreement with the Consolati family in hopes of landing state money for the project. The grant application has been rejected several times, but the owners have been willing to wait, knowing BHDC will renovate the three-story brick building and still keep the apartments affordable.
“The building needs work, especially the exterior, but its difficult for us to do with the low rents we charge, otherwise we would have to raise the rents significantly,” said Thomas Consolati, a retired public school superintendent.
While Lee has been focused on the commercial aspect of its downtown revitalization, town officials have said the BHDC housing project is just as important as keeping storefronts filled and creating more parking for Main Street shoppers.
Consolati agreed affordable housing is key to a vibrant town center, year round.
“This project will be another good, positive step for the downtown,” he said.
To reach Dick Lindsay:
rlindsay@berkshireeagle.com,
or (413) 496-6233.

SourceBerkshire Eagle

Loan to aid affordable housing project planned in Jackson Square

Loan to aid affordable housing project planned in Jackson Square
By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent
JAMAICA PLAIN – A plan for a 36-unit affordable rental housing development in Jackson Square has received a financial boost.
The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation has made a $100,000 loan to the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation to help get the project toward a shovel-ready stage.
The affordable housing units will be built at 75 Amory Avenue. That project, and the roadway it will sit on, will be constructed as part of the 14-building, multi-phase, quarter-billion-dollar, mixed-used Jackson Square Redevelopment Initiative.
The 75 Amory Ave. project will be the JPNDC’s first housing development within that larger initiative at the crossroads between Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. It is anticipated to break ground in late 2012 or early 2012, said JPNDC spokeswoman Sally Swenson.
“We’re very pleased to be able to support their new venture in Jackson Square,” said CEDAC executive director Roger Herzog by phone Tuesday.
He said the organization was one of five that combined to provide $1.5 million in funding to Jackson Square Partners to aid in the overall planning of the grand redevelopment proposal. The JPNDC, along with Urban Edge and the Hyde Square Task Force, comprise Jackson Square Partners.
CEDAC, a 33-year-old, public-private community development finance agency that supports nonprofit agencies, announced the financial support last week as part of a total of $3.8 million in loan commitments for 12 affordable housing developments.
“Projects such as these are critically important to communities and residents across the Commonwealth, especially in those areas that are lacking access to quality affordable housing,” added Herzog in a press release. “The pre-development funds provided by CEDAC allow each of these non-profit developers the opportunity to help strengthen their communities by creating or preserving affordable homes for those in need.”
E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
© 2011 NY Times Co.
URL: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/jamaica_plain/2011/06/loan_to_aid_affordable_housing.html

SourceBoston Globe

Jackson rec center approved: Other Jackson projects stalled

June 24, 2011
Jackson rec center approved: Other Jackson projects stalled
By David Taber
JACKSON SQ.—Plans for a new recreation center received Boston Redevelopment Authority approval last week and two residential developments are moving forward, but other pieces of the elaborate Jackson Square redevelopment plan appear stalled with little or no explanation.
Nonprofit developer Urban Edge won BRA board approval June 16 to construct a 38,500-square-foot multi-use facility that will function a skating rink and an indoor turf field.
Under the name Jackson Square Partners, Urban Edge, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) private developer Mitchell Properties and others are working on a massive neighborhood redevelopment project in the square.
As the Gazette previously reported, Mitchell Properties planned to start this spring on construction on a 103-unit mixed income residential development.
But work has not yet begun on that development planned for the corner of Centre Street and Columbus Avenue near the Jackson Square T Station. Mitchell did not respond to Gazette requests for comment by press time.
Urban Edge staffer Noah Maslan told the Gazette the nonprofit still hopes to get about a quarter of the estimated $16 million the rec. center project will cost from bond funding by the state. If that works out, Urban Edge will begin a capital campaign in the fall with the hopes of raising the rest of the money in time for a fall 2012 construction start, he said.
Next door to the proposed site of the new recreation facility at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Ritchie Street, Urban Edge is also trying to secure funding to build Jackson Commons, a mixed-use residential and commercial development.
That project—a dramatic expansion of the Urban Edge-owned Webb building at 1542 Columbus Ave.—will have 38 mixed-income apartments and 12,000 square feet of community and commercial space.
Maslan said that project is waiting on the approval of state funds, and, if they are awarded, construction could begin by spring of 2012.
JPNDC spokesperson Sally Swenson told the Gazette the JPNDC recently received $100,000 in pre-development funds from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation. That funding will help the JPNDC finalize plans for a residential development at 75 Jackson St., a new street Jackson Square Partners plans to add to the neighborhood between Amory Street and the Southwest Corridor Park.
The JPNDC is also partnered with the local nonprofit the Hyde Square Task Force to develop a Youth and Families Center on the T station side of Columbus Avenue, but that project “has been postponed indefinitely” because of economic downturn-related fund-raising constraints, Swenson told the Gazette.

SourceJamaica Plain Gazette

What’s the ground breaking news in Hamilton? Firehouse Place affordable housing officially digs in

What’s the ground breaking news in Hamilton?
Firehouse Place affordable housing officially digs in
By Sam Trapani (strapani@wickedlocal.com), Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle

Hamilton-Wenham —
The question
Monday morning, June 13, about 50 people gathered in front of the Acord Food Pantry. Residents driving by could see a row of shiny, silver shovels lined up against the building with white construction hats being donned by various business owners and politicians. So why did town and state officials along with residents circle around in front of this building at 69 Willow Street, Hamilton?
The Answer
It was the official ground breaking ceremony that signals the construction phase for the renovation of the Firehouse Place affordable housing project in Hamilton. It is historic in that the building is the town’s original firehouse. But even more importantly, it is the first housing project for the Town of Hamilton CPA funding (Community Preservation Act) creating the towns first ‘affordable housing’ projects. Although the scale is small, just 4 affordable units, through this project it will enable the Acord Food Pantry to have a permanent home on the first floor which otherwise would have been uprooted if a market developer purchased the property.
Carol Suleski, President of Harborlight Community Partners, who were the catalyst for this project welcomed the crowd of people. Suleski said of the 14 various funding sources it took to pull this project off, that it goes to show that, “the total is greater than the sum of its parts.” Suleski said the ground breaking was the realization of a dream of everyone involved in the project. The goal is for an 18-20 week construction phase with residents being able to move into the apartments in the fall.
Suleski read the long list of funding sources that Harborlight Executive Director, Andrew DeFranza, masterfully orchestrated.
State Rep. Brad Hill said that the project had been quite a journey. Harborlight Community Partners was originally approached in 2008 by Hamilton community members concerned with how to preserve the building at 69 Willow Street as a space for the Acord Food Pantry.
First Congregational Church parishioner, Jared Ward, had the idea to preserve Acord’s space and utilize the upper floor apartments as affordable housing. That idea is now coming to fruition after three years of perseverance. “As a lifelong resident of Hamilton and Wenham I am pleased to have been able to see my original concept come to fruition through the hard work of so many people.” said Ward.
Hill said that the Hamilton site was exactly the type of multi-benefit resource that law-makers had in mind when they came up with the Community Preservation Act. Hamilton Selectman Dave Carey was singled out by Hill for his “continued advocacy” for the project. And Carey in turn gave a shout out to Harborlight. “A town could never do this alone,” Carey said of the hundreds of pages of proposals DeFranza put together.
Senator Bruce Tarr was also on hand to celebrate the significance of the day. Tarr said he was proud of what the town of Hamilton with Harborlight Community Partners was able to achieve in providing housing and food, the “basis of human needs to build a stronger community.”
What this means to you
Residents should be aware, and patient, that 69 Willow Street will be a construction site for the next 4 months or so. The Acord Food Pantry will have a temporary space in the Council on Aging building at 299 Bay Road, the former children’s room in the old library.
Anne Marie Cullen, who has been working with Acord Food Pantry for over 20 years said that they are grateful for the temporary space. “And we are so happy we no longer have to worry about where Acord will have to go. We now have a permanent home.”
Managing Director of the Acord Food Pantry, Deby Baker, echoes that sentiment. “With the temporary space, it allows us to still have donations dropped off during normal business hours. We hope to be set up and ready in our temporary space by Wednesday evening’s hours so our client’s don’t miss a beat,” Baker said.
For donations to Acord Food Pantry:
Drop off at temporary site: 299 Bay Road in the COA building, Hamilton.
Wednesday 6:30 – 8 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. – 12 Noon.
Donations can also be dropped off at the Hamilton-Wenham Library during normal business hours.
Visit acordfoodpantry.org for more information.
Visit harborlightcp.org for information on living in one of their properties or to make a charitable contribution.
Special thanks to the Funders and Financing Partners who made this project possible:
Town of Hamilton, Community Preservation Fund, Acord Food Pantry, North Shore HOME Consortium, First Baptist Church of Beverly, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dept. of Housing and Community Development, Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., Boston Community Capital, MassDevelopment, Beverly Cooperative Bank, North Shore United Way, Beverly National Bank/Danversbank, Architect: Siemasko & Verbridge, Contractor: Martins Construction Company.

Martins Construction Co. and Boy Scouts assist Acord Food Pantry With Move
Saturday, June 11, employees of Martins Construction Company, Inc., along with members of Boy Scout Troop # 28 of Wenham, assisted the Acord Food Bank in moving their operation from their home at 69 Willow Street in Hamilton to a new temporary location at 229 Bay Road, Hamilton, also the home of the Hamilton Council on Aging. This move will allow Martins Construction Company to begin renovation and construction work at the 69 Willow Street location the following week.
“The folks at the Acord pantry do so much for so many and we are just happy to be able to help them out” said Al Martins, President of Martins Construction Company, Inc.
Acord Food Pantry in Hamilton, MA has provided food assistance to residents of Hamilton, Wenham, and several nearby communities since 1991. Acord is a non-denominational, non-profit, grassroots organization staffed by more than 100 local volunteers. Acord is a partner of the Greater Boston Food Bank and the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, and a member of the North Shore Hunger Network.

Copyright 2011 Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle. Some rights reserved
URL: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hamilton/news/x1162607882/What-s-the-ground-breaking-news-in-Hamilton#axzz1PN5xco6w

SourceWicked Local Hamilton/ Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle

MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason to Speak at Standard & Poor’s National Housing Summ

MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason to Speak at Standard & Poor’s National Housing Summit
June 9 event in New York City will cover broad range of housing finance issues
BOSTON, MA – June 8, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason has been selected to speak at a national housing summit in New York City on June 9 sponsored by Standard & Poor’s that will cover a broad range of topics influencing the United States housing market.
Gleason, who has worked in affordable housing finance for 33 years, will be among 24 housing experts speaking at the summit. Other notable speakers from the housing industry, government and academia will include HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Eric Belsky, Executive Director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, and Robert Shiller, co-founder of the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
Standard & Poor’s Housing Summit 2011: Boom, Bust and Beyond, will be held at New York’s Roosevelt Hotel for bankers, investors, tax credit syndicators and housing advocates. Gleason will talk about what state Housing Finance Agencies have done to continue providing quality affordable mortgage products during the housing crisis.
“MassHousing and other HFAs have been very successful in providing affordable, fixed-rate mortgages to thousands of qualified moderate and low-income borrowers despite the recent turmoil in the housing finance industry,” said Gleason. “I am looking forward to sharing what we have accomplished in a very difficult market and working with others in the industry to overcome the many challenges facing us.”
In addition to serving as MassHousing’s Executive Director, Mr. Gleason is a Board Member and Treasurer for the National Council of State Housing Agencies. He also serves on Fannie Mae’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council, the Board of the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC) and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC).
About MassHousing
Celebrating its 45th anniversary, MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $13 billion for affordable housing. For more information, visit the MassHousing website at www.masshousing.com, follow us on Twitter @MassHousing, subscribe to our blog and Like us on Facebook.
Contacts
Eric Gedstad: 617.854.1079 | egedstad (at) masshousing (dot) com
Tom Farmer: 617.854.1843 | tfarmer (at) masshousing (dot) com

RealEstateRama © 2011
URL: http://massachusetts.realestaterama.com/2011/06/08/masshousing-executive-director-thomas-r-gleason-to-speak-at-standard-poors-national-housing-summit-ID0339.html

SourceReal Estate Rama

Somerville’s St. Polycarp Village wins ‘Door Knocker Award’

Somerville’s St. Polycarp Village wins ‘Door Knocker Award’
By Anonymous

Somerville — Three affordable housing developments built in Massachusetts have received the prestigious Door Knocker Awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The award-winning developments were Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community Village in Pittsfield, St. Polycarp Village Apartments in Somerville, and Worthington Commons in Springfield. The first two are CEDAC-funded projects.
Each project was chosen based on their outstanding work in producing affordable housing, specifically their contribution to creating stable living environments for those with disabilities, providing rental assistance to homeless veterans, and developing innovative housing solutions for specific communities. All three projects received federal HOME and other funding resources administered by the Massachusetts Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD). Two of the developments were partially financed by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) – a private-public community development finance institution.
With the Door Knocker Awards, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recognized 14 state and local governments from across the country for their efforts to create affordable housing for low income neighborhoods. Three Massachusetts-based projects were among the 14 winners. The developments were honored for promoting long-term affordability, reaching underserved populations, and producing sustainable housing. Additionally, five Massachusetts affordable housing initiatives received honorable mentions.
“We are honored to have so many of our projects receive federal recognition,” said Roger Herzog, executive director of CEDAC. “We work with non-profit developers early in the process and it is always extremely fulfilling to see these projects come to fruition. But in particular, it is gratifying to see HUD honoring organizations that are contributing so much to their communities.”
Envisioned by non-profit developer Soldier On as a national model to provide homeless veterans with permanent housing solutions, the Gordon H. Mansfield Community Village in Pittsfield is a new construction limited equity cooperative that serves formerly homeless veterans. The development, completed in February 2011, provides 39 units of housing for veterans who have completed transitional programs and are ready to move into permanent supportive housing.
The St. Polycarp Village Apartments, a new construction rental project, was developed by the Somerville Community Corporation to bring affordable housing to the 3.5 acre site of a closed former Catholic parish in the city of Somerville. Phase I of the project, which received a LEED Silver Rating for its energy efficient features, introduced 24 units into the community. Phase II, which recently celebrated its groundbreaking signifying the start of construction, includes the development of an additional 29 affordable rental units in three buildings around a courtyard. Site amenities include open space, a playground, and a community room. A third phase is planned that will complete the development of the site, and provide an additional 31 affordable rental units.
Worthington Commons involves the preservation of existing affordable housing in need of physical rehabilitation of more than a hundred units in 10 buildings and constructing 38 new apartment homes in previously vacant buildings. The development was financed by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development along with other state agencies and the City of Springfield.
Four CEDAC-funded development projects – Thankful Chase Pathway in Harwich, the Visiting Nurses Senior Living Community in Somerville, Trolley Square in Cambridge and Blessed Sacrament in Jamaica Plain – received honorable mentions, along with the Building Capacity of Community Housing Organizations partnership between DHCD and CEDAC. HUD evaluated projects based on the organization’s work in four categories: Promoting Long-Term Affordability, Reaching Underserved Populations, Producing Sustainable Housing, and Building CHDO Capacity.
The Door Knocker Awards are part of HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the largest Federal block grant designed to create affordable housing for low- and very low-income households. In its 20th year, HOME has produced more than one million units of affordable housing through the U.S. DHCD receives an annual allocation of $13-16 million in HOME funds, and this program has supported 644 Massachusetts projects with 21,000 affordable units.

Copyright 2011 Somerville Journal.
URL: http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x910434040/Somervilles-St-Polycarp-Village-wins-Door-Knocker-Award#axzz1QVgUQnsk

SourceWicked Local Somerville

Rent aid ending, Fenway tenants fret: Advocates for poor see affordability crisis

Rent aid ending, Fenway tenants fret
Advocates for poor see affordability crisis
By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff
Richard Webster lives steps away from a Whole Foods Market, the train station, and the hospital, where he goes for checkups.
He is one of a few of East Fenway’s low-income residents who had found a haven at Burbank Apartments, an island of government-subsidized housing in the neighborhood for 40 years.
But in April his landlords ended their rent subsidy agreement with the federal government, dealing Webster and other tenants a blow. Rents have since climbed to $1,150 for a studio to $2,400 for a two-bedroom. And now Webster, disabled and on a fixed income, wonders whether he can continue to stay there.
“I may have to move out,’’ he said.
The end of rent subsidies at the 171 apartments in East Fenway has touched a nerve among tenants over the neighborhood’s affordable housing stock, triggering protests, city intervention, and a lawsuit seeking to keep subsidized units at Burbank. And it is highlighting what some say is an affordable housing crisis playing out across the state as private developers end their federally subsidized mortgages with the government.
“This is a huge problem,’’ said Kathy Brown, a coordinator with the Boston Tenants Coalition. “There is such a shortage of affordable housing. And the thought of losing more units — units that were there just months ago — is very concerning.’’
The Burbank landlords, William and Robert Kargman, said through a spokesman that while they are no longer offering Section 8 housing at the property, they have offered tenants federal “enhanced vouchers’’ so they can continue to stay there or use them elsewhere if they move. Tenants must meet income rules to qualify, and their rents would be government-subsidized.
“Anyone in the building is encouraged to stay,’’ said David Ball, spokesman for the Kargmans, who own First Realty Management Corp.
But Fenway tenants and housing advocates worry about the affordability of the apartments once tenants leave. They contend that as tenants move out, those units will be rented at market rate, far out of reach for the elderly, disabled, or low-income families who had relied on affordability at Burbank.
The Kargman family, the premier developer of affordable housing in the state, was among dozens of private developers who participated in a federal 40-year program that offered low interest rates — 1 percent to 3 percent — in exchange for providing Section 8 and low- and moderate-income housing.
But those deals are expiring. And as a result, Massachusetts could lose 10,000 affordable housing units over the next decade, according to a study released in March by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, which tracks the mortgages.
While tenants acknowledge the Kargmans are not legally obligated to continue affordable housing, they argue that the withdrawal from rent subsidy in the Fenway is a violation of the Massachusetts discrimination laws. The move unfairly affects families with children and families of color, as well as the elderly and disabled, the suit added.
But Ball said that the Kargmans have gone “above and beyond’’ to accommodate Burbank renters, and that the brunt of Fenway’s housing burdens should not be placed on one developer.
“The Kargmans have fulfilled the terms of their 40-year agreement with the federal government,’’ said Ball. “They’ve gone out and secured the enhanced vouchers to keep people in the building to continue to stay there… . What else is expected from someone who has met those obligations? What more can they possibly do?’’
Fenway residents and city officials say the Kargmans pose a particular challenge, and not just in the Fenway. Of the 1,081 affordable housing units the city has lost in the past five years, 1,069 belong to the Kargmans, said Sheila Dillon, the mayor’s housing adviser.
Ball disputes the city’s figures, saying the Kargmans eliminated 518 rent-subsidized apartments at developments in East Boston and Roslindale. Three other developments have gone market-rate. Burbank Apartments represents nearly 7 percent of Fenway’s affordable housing stock, city officials and advocates for the poor say. They worry that depletions of subsidized units in the neighborhood will ultimately lead to higher-end tenants moving in and lower-income renters being driven to poorer parts of the city.
“If you are poor and/or working class in this area, you are going to be priced out and move further into the city until you are priced out and move out of the city,’’ said City Councilor Michael Ross, who represents the Fenway.
They also contend that the vouchers offer no guarantees to tenants, who could be forced to leave if their income or household changes.
“The Kargman family has had a history of providing affordable housing and that is positive,’’ said Sarah Horsley, an advocate with the Fenway Community Development Corporation, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “But their decisions and choices are having a huge impact on low- and moderate- [income] people in Boston … and where they can afford to live.’’
Dillon said the mayor has pressed to keep affordable housing in all of Boston’s neighborhoods. And while the city has worked to preserve such apartments throughout the city, she said it is particularly troubling when affordability is lost in wealthier communities.
“When we lose affordable housing in high-income neighborhood areas, it is very hard to replace those units,’’ said Dillon. “It means our neighborhoods aren’t as rich and diverse as they need to be.’’
In March, the tenants filed for a court injunction to block the Kargmans from ending rent subsidy. They lost their bid for an injunction, but their lawsuit is going forward.
The lawsuit names seven plaintiffs, including En Ci Guan, who makes $8 an hour at a restaurant. Guan pays 30 percent of her income in rent, the suit said, but she fears that with the end of rent subsidy at Burbank she will have to pay more.
Webster, who has a rent voucher, never thought he would have to leave Burbank. In his 25 years there, he’s seen more students move in and more of his disabled friends leave. The neighborhood, he adds, is in high demand.
“I have no problems with the students,’’ Webster said. “But what about the rest of us?’’
Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.

© 2011 NY Times Co.
URL: http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-09/news/29525727_1_affordable-housing-tenants-and-housing-advocates-rent-subsidy