| MassHousing has closed on a total of $49.3 million in affordable housing financing to affiliates of Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and the Madison Park Development Corp. to support the ongoing first phase of the Whittier Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. The MassHousing financing will advance the phased demolition and redevelopment of the Boston Housing Authority’s 200-unit Whittier Street Apartments in Roxbury.
As part of the Whittier Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, Preservation of Affordable Housing will utilize a total of $27.4 million in MassHousing financing to construct the 92-unit Whittier at Cabot apartments, in a midrise building and adjacent townhomes, on the site of the current Whittier Street Apartments. Concurrently, Madison Park Development Corp. will use $21.9 in MassHousing financing to construct the 76-unit Madison Melnea Cass Apartments in nearby Madison Park Village.
Both new residential communities will contain a mix of affordable housing units with a preference for current Whittier Street residents, workforce housing units and market-rate housing. The phased redevelopment of the Whittier Street Apartments will ultimately redevelop and preserve 200 public housing units, and create an additional 309 housing units.
“We are very pleased to be part of this major initiative that is going to transform the Whittier neighborhood for the residents of Roxbury,” MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay said in a statement. “The Whittier Choice Neighborhoods Initiative will not only result in the development of new housing in the neighborhood, but also spur economic, educational and social opportunities for the broader Lower Roxbury community. This highly impactful redevelopment is the result of a determined partnership between stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels. The residents of Whittier Street, along with Madison Park and POAH, devoted years to building a comprehensive vision for building prosperity and equity in their neighborhood. It’s thrilling to be a partner in helping their vision come to fruition.”
The 92 units at Whittier at Cabot will be contained in a new midrise building and new townhouse buildings. Forty-three of the units will be subsidized with a federal Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment contract for low-income families, 22 will be affordable to households earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), 15 units will be workforce housing units for households earning at or below 100 percent of AMI, and 12 units will be rented at market rates. The area median income for Suffolk County is $103,400 for a family of four.
The Madison Melnea Cass Apartments will offer 33 apartments for low-income families that are subsidized by a Section 8 contract. Twenty units will be affordable for households earning at or below 60percent of AMI, 19 apartments will be workforce housing units for households earning at or below 80 percent of AMI, and four units will be rented at market rates.
