BOSTON
- Monday, February 1, 2021 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced the
formal launch of the City of Boston Voucher Program (CBVP). The CBVP is a
rental voucher program similar to Section 8, funded by the City of Boston's
operating budget and administered by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA).
The voucher program will provide hundreds of low income Boston households
with rental assistance.
Mayor
Walsh announced
the City of Boston Voucher Program in his 2020 State of the City
address and included $2.5 million in the fiscal year 2021 budget to create
the program. The program is expected to house hundreds of Boston families
over the coming years.
"Boston
is a home for all, and these vouchers will allow more of our low-income
families to have stable, secure housing, a cornerstone of residents'
wellbeing," said Mayor Walsh. "We are using every tool available
to us to ensure families in our communities can continue to call Boston
home."
Responding
to community input, the City of Boston Voucher Program will focus on
Project Based Vouchers-tied to a particular site or development-and will
further fair housing through equitable neighborhood planning. The City of
Boston Voucher Program will efficiently leverage city resources by
deepening the affordability of both existing and in-development
income-restricted housing, making such housing available to very- and
extremely- low-income residents, homeless Boston Public Schools families,
households facing displacement and other vulnerable populations.
Since
June, the Boston Housing Authority has convened a stakeholder group of
low-income renters, nonprofits and service providers to inform program
design and priorities, while the Department of Neighborhood Development has
consulted with property owners and developers to ensure the success of the
program.
"This
historic City investment will be a new and critical housing resource for
hundreds of Boston's most vulnerable residents," said BHA
Administrator Kate Bennett. "I want to thank Mayor Walsh for his
leadership in driving this initiative forward, and creating a lifeline of
affordable, stable housing for families who need it the most."
The
Boston Housing Authority will formally launch the program by issuing a
Request for Proposals from housing operators and developers interested in
incorporating Project Based Vouchers into their developments. Similar to
Section 8, vouchers are funded by annual appropriation while the commitment
to stable affordable housing is secured through long-term contracts between
the Boston Housing Authority and the property owner.
"We
commend Mayor Walsh for his bold and historic commitment to create a City
funded rent subsidy program," said Michael Kane, spokesperson for the
City Rent Subsidy Coalition and the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants, which
advocated for the plan. "The first $2.5 million being advertised now
by the BHA will get hundreds of homeless families with children in the
Boston Public Schools off the streets and into permanent housing. We
look forward to working with the BHA to implement and expand this program
in the months ahead."
To
efficiently deploy resources to serve vulnerable residents, the BHA will
use three existing referral partnerships while incorporating a new
partnership with the city's Office of Housing Stability. These partnerships
will serve households in shelter, homeless and doubled-up families
(multiple families sharing one primary residence) with children in Boston
Public Schools, and families facing displacement. The City funding stream
will build on the success of these programs while expanding eligibility to
a greater pool of Boston residents.
The
City of Boston and Boston Housing Authority have partnered for years to
deploy Project Based Vouchers into Boston neighborhoods. With this new
municipal resource, Boston is introducing a flexible and powerful program to
serve populations whose needs are currently unmet by other housing
programs.
Under
the Walsh Administration, historic investments have been made in the city's
public housing stock to renovate facilities and offer additional vouchers
to residents and families. Earlier this month, Mayor Walsh today marked a
significant milestone in the City of Boston's housing work, as the Boston
Housing Authority provided housing choice vouchers to more than 1,000
Boston families experiencing homelessness with school aged children since
December 2019. The 1,000 families represent more than 1,700 children who
will now have much needed housing stability, an effort made possible
through partnerships with Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the state's
Department of Housing and Community Development.
Mayor
Walsh and the City of Boston have dedicated unprecedented resources in
recent years to expand and preserve affordable housing in Boston. In 2019,
Mayor Walsh celebrated a $30 million capital
investment to revitalize Boston Housing Authority's Bunker Hill Housing
development in Charlestown, the first time in the City's history that
City bond dollars have been invested directly into a BHA project. Work also
continues on a comprehensive redevelopment of the Whittier Street public
housing development in Roxbury that was first built in 1953. The project
will rebuild and preserve 200 existing public housing apartments by
replacing them on- and off-site with an expanded program of 509 units of
mixed-income rental housing and 14,225 square feet of commercial space.
Move-ins for phase I of Whittier Street opened up to residents last
summer. The City also invested $10 million for the second phase of Overlook
Terrace at Orient Heights, $25 million to Anne Lynch Homes at Old Colony,
and $5 million in 2020 to kickstart the renovation efforts for BHA Public
Housing for seniors and residents with disabilities.
Today's
announcement builds on the goals of
Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030, the Walsh administration's plan
to stabilize the housing market, accommodate growth, improve housing
accessibility, and increase affordability. Since the release of the
original Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030 plan in 2014, 26,124 new
units of housing have been completed. With an additional 9,204 units
currently under construction, the City has secured housing for an estimated
52,300 residents, making significant progress in meeting Boston's rapid
population growth. Income-restricted housing stock has grown along with
overall new production, with nearly 5,500 income restricted units completed
and over 1,700 units under construction. Approximately 20 percent of all
newly-developed housing units and 25 percent of new rental units in the
City are designated as income-restricted. For more information on the City
of Boston's work to create more housing, please visit Housing
A Changing City: Boston 2030. |
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