 | | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu。 |
 | | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and city officials. |
BOSTON - Monday, September 16, 2024 - Today, Mayor
Michelle Wu joined members of the Boston City Council, the Boston Housing
Authority (BHA), the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH), and the Office of
Economic Opportunity and Inclusion (OEOI), to announce the allocation of a
$7 million investment of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to bolster
Boston’s neighborhoods in three ways: by (1) helping first time home buyers
with down payment assistance, (2) acquiring of market-rate properties to
grow affordable housing stock, and (3) supporting small businesses,
including through the City’s SPACE Grant Program. Mayor Wu today filed an order with
the Boston City Council to allocate the $7 million of ARPA funding. Of the
total $558.7 million awarded to Boston since 2021, this $7 million
represents the remaining amount for the City to allocate toward eligible recovery
projects. These investments in affordable housing and local business build
on Mayor Wu’s commitment to making Boston a home for everyone.  | | BHA Administrator Kenzie Bok. |
 | | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the working group |
“This $7 million investment prioritizes Boston’s
families by building generational wealth through homeownership
opportunities and helping our local entrepreneurs make their small business
dreams become a reality,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “In Boston,
we have used ARPA funds to build innovative new programs that target key
issues in our city such as housing, and we’re committed to using these
remaining federal dollars to continue these successful initiatives.
Congrats to Keanna Rice on her new home through the BHA First Home Program,
and all of our city’s first time home buyers.”
 | | Chief of Housing Sheila A. Dillon |
 | | Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion |
"When we talk about investing in people and in our
neighborhoods, this is it. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have
allowed the Mayor and the Boston City Council to make transformative
investments in housing, small businesses, green energy in affordable
housing, culture and the arts, and support for vulnerable populations,”
said Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune. “This $7
million is a continuation of that work by further investing in affordable
homeownership opportunities and supporting our small business owners. I am
proud that the Council and the Mayor continue to collaborate to make sure
these funds are helping us build a more prosperous and just city
post-pandemic.""As Chair of Boston City Council’s Committee on
COVID-19 Recovery, I’m proud of our investments in support of additional
investments in housing affordability and small business,” said City
Councilor Sharon Durkan. “These $7M in investments continue Boston’s
track record in leading the way in utilizing these once-in-a-generation
resources to make transformative and sustainable investments to support the
recovery and growth of our city – and because of the way we are continuing
to steward these resources, Boston’s recovery has made our communities more
stable and vibrant.”
Mayor Wu has allocated $3 million to the BHA First Home
Program, to continue serving BHA families with down payment assistance
through 2026. This funding will enable an estimated additional 57 BHA
families to purchase homes in Boston. Through this program, the City
provides eligible BHA families with enhanced down payment assistance of
$75,000 towards the purchase of a home located in Boston and is available
to all BHA residents who purchase a home in the city.
The BHA First Home Program launched in November 2022 with a $2 million
investment from the city and has been an unprecedented success in helping
BHA families become homeowners. To date it has helped over 50 BHA residents
buy homes in Boston. This additional funding is critical in affording BHA
tenants the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership. The demand
for this program is high, and today’s announcement would enable the program
to continue for two more years and double the number of families becoming
homebuyers in the city of Boston.
“The First Home Program is a representation of
everything we hope to achieve at the Boston Housing Authority, and the
Mayor’s investment has allowed this program and BHA families to flourish
beyond our wildest expectations,” said BHA Administrator Kenzie Bok.
“This program has already enabled more than 50 BHA families to achieve
homeownership and self sufficiency, establishing the intergenerational
wealth that can lift families out of poverty and help close Boston's racial
wealth gap. We are thrilled that the Mayor and City Councilors support
doubling down on this successful program to help more of our families.”
“Buying a home has always been a goal for me and my
family, having a home to call my own and securing generational wealth for
the future. No matter your current financial status, buying a house in
today's market is extremely difficult and costly, but this program gave me
leverage,” said BHA First Home Program participant Keanna Rice.
“As I stand in my new home, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and
gratitude. I look forward to creating lasting memories in this space,
building equity for my future, and establishing roots.”
An additional $3 million of this ARPA funding will go to
further address the City’s need to prevent displacement and increase
affordable housing opportunities through MOH’s Acquisition Opportunity Program. This program supports
the acquisition of market-rate buildings by responsible, mission-oriented
developers to stabilize tenancies and create long-term income restricted
housing for low- and moderate-income renters. This new funding allocation
will leverage approximately $9 million of private financing to support the
acquisition of additional apartments buildings and stabilize the tenancies
of households at risk of displacement.
The Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP) provides
funding to nonprofit and for-profit organizations to acquire occupied,
rental properties that are typically renting at below market rates. The
residents of these properties are at risk of displacement if the property
is sold and the units are then converted to condominiums or they are
maintained as rental properties and the rent is increased. The City’s AOP
has helped hundreds of properties remain affordable in almost every
neighborhood of the City; from Chinatown to Mattapan, preventing
displacement and promoting neighborhood stability.
"The City’s Acquisition Opportunity Program allows
organizations to acquire occupied residential buildings removing them from
the speculative market. These acquisitions provide tenant stability
and increase the City’s inventory of income restricted homes,” said Chief
of Housing Sheila A. Dillon. “The additional investment of ARPA funds
will allow us to continue and expand the work of protecting and preserving
affordable housing in the City, allowing residents to live and thrive in
their communities.”
Small businesses, especially those industries most
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, will receive $1 million of this ARPA
investment. The funding will support the City’s SPACE Grant Program, providing grants to business
owners seeking to occupy vacant storefronts. The City will soon announce
the third and final round of the SPACE Grant program. In the first two
rounds, the City helped 61 small businesses either open their first brick
and mortar location or expand using $7.5 million in funding.
“Thanks to the leadership of the Biden Harris
Administration and our delegation in Congress, Mayor Wu and our team have
been able to invest millions of dollars in Boston’s small businesses,
helping to build wealth and establish vibrancy across all of our
neighborhoods,” said Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and
Inclusion. “Our team is grateful to Mayor Wu and the City Council for
further investments in this transformative program, which has created new
jobs and given dreams the space to grow.”
The SPACE Grant Program has been a key part of the
city’s downtown recovery and support for local entrepreneurs throughout
Boston’s neighborhoods. Businesses in the program have created nearly 600
new jobs, and a quarter of the grantees are now open and operating in the
city, with the rest signing leases or in lease negotiations. This funding
will help continue the success of this program, with an emphasis on filling
vacant storefronts in Downtown Boston.
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