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City gets $30-million federal grant to revitalize Whittier Street area in Roxbury
By adamg on Mon, 12/12/2016 - 12:20pm
Architect's rendering of possible new Whittier Street project.
City and federal housing officials gathered at the Whittier Street development today to announce a $30-million grant to help replace the aging buildings - and spur development of the surrounding neighborhood while keeping it from becoming another yuppie enclave.
In 2014, the city proposed a $300-million "Whittier Neighborhood Transformation Plan" for a one-square-mile area that includes the housing project and extends down to Malcolm X Boulevard and past Dudley Square and has a population of about 9,400. That plan was funded by an earlier $300,000 federal grant.
Key to the project would be replacing the project's 200 current apartments, built 60 years ago, with new units, and to build at least 350 new units in the neighborhood, split between market-rate and affordable - with an emphasis on one- and two-bedroom units to help bring in "young adults, singles, and small families."
A "project labor agreement" will try to set aside construction jobs for city residents and will include "pre-apprenticeship training and guaranteed placement within the building trades."
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Comments
the numbers
in this article are confusing. 30 mil grant on top of an earlier 300k grant to fund a 300 mil proposal? It's very unclear what they're building and with what money
Sorry about that
Take two:
In 2011 or 2012, HUD gave Boston a $300,000 grant to develop a plan for revitalizing the Whittier area (which is much larger than just the housing project).
The city used that to develop a plan, which would cost $300 million to fully implement, that would include a complete rebuild of the housing project, the construction of even more housing in the Whittier area, fixing sidewalks and doing other stuff to make the area more attractive and to try to make the housing project more of a part of the community.
Today, HUD gave Boston $30 million towards meeting that $300 million goal.
This doesn't mean the city is committing to spend $270 million of taxpayer money on the overall project, though. If the city follows its model from places such as Washington-Beech and Bunker Hill, it'll find a private developer who will agree to rebuild the subsidized units in exchange for the profits from the market-rate and affordable units (what does make this project different from Washington-Beech and Bunker Hill is that it includes a lot of land not owned by the BHA, so the city will probably kick in money for stuff such as sidewalks and whatever other public-way improvements are made).
net loss?
So there's currently 200 affordable apartments which will be replaced by 350 new units - split between market rate and affordable -- assuming a 50/50 split that's a loss of 25 affordable units.
I can haz hope?
Nope
No need for hope. I think you read that wrong; the 200 existing units will be replaced and another 350 units will be built, split 50-50 between subsidized and market-rate.
reading skillz
Thanks. didn't catch that.
Or
More market rate units to break up and integrate economically what can be determined to be a residential warehousing district for poor and working poor.
I think with Roxse Homes, Mandela, Camden / Lennox Street, Orchard Park, and whatever the development is called at the corner of Shawmut and Cass, you may notice that affordability has the upper hand, head, shoulders, torso, and other body parts in this neighborhood.
You would object if there was a city neighborhood that was nearly devoid of working poor, right?
This just brings this area closer to the areas of the city that have mixes (although some people don't like it and don't believe it) like the South End, Downtown (Yes, Downtown), South Boston, and the West End.
Whittier street housing crap
Roxse homes are not owned by BHA, they are a co-op housing. And they really pick out who they want living in their establishment. They have been that way for years. If you're not from the south end, you will have a hard time getting in that building! Also, they're application is like applying for a loan!! As for the other apartments in that area, like lenox and camden, lenox street is owned by BHA and camden was owned by BHA until peabody properties took that over. Peabody people working in their maintenance department who would just come into your unit and take your stuff. I will stay right where I am at.
and spur development of the
The cognitive dissonance is so loud it makes the roots of my teeth hurt. Apparently a follower of the Red Queen.
Welcome to my Red Pill followers
There's roughly $2.6 billion in development money pouring into that area (including the Tremont Crossing mega-thing right next door, assuming it ever gets built). None of that will benefit the people who live in the area, because they will all be priced out by rich people/foreign investors, without some sort of help from the government. You might be fine with letting capital do whatever the hell it wants but not everybody is.