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 | | Kim Janey. (By Chutze Chou) |
BOSTON - Tuesday,
August 17, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey joined the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, MassHousing and the residents of multiple affordable
housing sites, collectively called the Pitts Portfolio, to celebrate the
acquisition, preservation and renovation of 201 units in Roxbury and
Dorchester. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation
(JPNDC) utilized $1.5 million in City of Boston Acquisition Opportunity
Program (AOP) funding and $26 million in permanent MassHousing financing
to purchase and renovate the units. This funding allowed for extensive
capital improvements across the 201 unit portfolio, as well as finance
the long-term affordability of the properties. As part of the work, 11
units were made accessible to people with disabilities and 14 units have
been set aside to house formerly homeless individuals and
families.
“This is a great
example of how community partners can work together to ensure Boston
residents have a place to call home,” Mayor Kim Janey said. “ The ability
of the City to keep these units affordable into the future is a huge win
for Boston. I look forward to continuing to work with our nonprofit
organizations, MassHousing and other partners to protect and preserve
Boston’s affordable housing options.”
The housing is
located in 21 buildings in Fort Hill, Nubian Square and Grove Hall,
purchased from the estate of Lorenzo Pitts. Mr. Pitts was a successful,
Roxbury-based owner and housing developer. Most of the units were
affordable to low-income families. When JPNDC acquired the Pitts
Portfolio in 2018, only 64 of the 201 units had long-term affordability
restrictions, and without a long-term preservation transaction, the
remainder were at risk of being converted to market-rate housing. The
City’s $1.5M in AOP funding helped to ensure that all 201 units will have
long-term affordability.
“Welcome home to
all the residents of the Lorenzo Pitts properties who now have renovated,
modern homes where they can live affordably and prosper well into the
future,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay.
“MassHousing commends the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development
Corporation and the estate of Lorenzo Pitts – as well as the city, state
and private partners involved in this project - for their commitment to
preserving this important affordable housing portfolio in Dorchester and
Roxbury.”
Overall, there are
38 one-bedroom apartments, 87 two-bedroom apartments, 53 three-bedroom
apartments, 18 four-bedroom apartments, two five-bedroom apartments and
three six-bedroom apartments. Renovations on the buildings and units
included masonry repairs of building facades, roof and window replacement
at selected buildings, accessibility upgrades, kitchen and bathroom
upgrades, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing system upgrades.
Of the 201 units
in the Pitts portfolio, 14 units are restricted to households earning 30
percent of Area Median Income (AMI) or less, 161 units are restricted at
or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and 26 units are
restricted at or below 80 percent of AMI. A total of 165 units are
supported by project-based Section 8 or MRVP rental subsidy.
“We are
tremendously grateful to the City of Boston and to all the other partners
who made it possible to keep these 201 families in our city,” said JPNDC
CEO Teronda Ellis. “MassHousing played an essential role, and DHCD, HUD,
the Boston Housing Authority and the Massachusetts Historic Commission
all contributed. And I especially want to thank the residents for their
tremendous patience throughout the renovation process, especially since
most of it took place during one of our nation’s most serious pandemics.”
Launched in 2017,
the goal of the AOP program is to allow affordable housing developers and
nonprofits to fight displacement by acquiring units off of the private
market and securing affordable rents for current and future residents for
the long term. AOP allows these buyers to compete with speculative buyers
and preserve rental units at below-market rates for low-income
Bostonians. To date, funding from this initiative has created 597 new
units of affordable housing, of which 310 have been restricted at or
below 60 percent of area median income (AMI) and 287 units at or below
100 percent AMI.
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