Report: City on track to produce new 53,000 homes

Over the past month or so, Bostonians have been challenged to imagine themselves 15 years in the future as Mayor Martin Walsh pushes forward with several ambitious planning processes for the city. One of the most important question for many Bostonians is where they will live in the year 2030, when Boston celebrates its 400th birthday and which the mayor has chosen as the measuring stick for city planning efforts.

The mayor tossed an important element into the conversation last week when he released the first progress report tracking the city’s performance on his housing goals. Walsh first presented his housing plan in October 2014 in his report, “Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030.” That’s when he committed to creating 53,000 housing units by the year 2030.

Boston housing experts who spoke with the Banner this week hailed the city’s efforts and pointed to areas that in their view would be particularly challenging as the mayor forges ahead to reach the 53,000 threshold.

Report highlights

The report showed that the city was on track with the mayor’s goals for total housing and low-income units. The latter was bolstered by last week’s announcement of nearly $39 million in city funding to support affordable housing developments across Boston.

The city did not do as well regarding the creation of middle-income housing nor the construction of senior housing or student dormitories, although the report noted progress on both fronts. The city authorized construction of 284 new units of low-income senior housing (89 percent of its target rate) and 2014 set a record for the number of dormitory completions.

Last week’s progress report is meant to be the first of many. In addition to quarterly reports, an end-of-the-year annual report will be forthcoming.

Building equity

Gail Latimore, executive director of the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, said she thought progress on housing thus far was encouraging.

“I’m pleased it’s moving forward,” she said. “It’s a good start.”

She said the difficulty is in securing enough financing to reach the mayor’s goals.

“Financial resources are a concern,” she said. “The resources at the public level have diminished significantly — federal, state, etc … [We’re looking at] expanding those resources, maybe through some form of public-private partnerships. But to make it affordable, you always have to have public financing. And that’s the problem, there’s a limit to how much exists.”

Challenges aside, Latimore said, the mayor’s focus on housing production opens doors for significant changes.

“This is an opportunity to be like a learning lab for equity development,” she said.

She cited the 1987 South End Neighborhood Housing Initiative plan as an example of a city effort that had aggressively tried to address issues of affordable housing and equitable development.

That plan promoted an affordability standard for projects built on city-owned land that split evenly into three parts: one-third low-income, one-third moderate income and one-third market rate. It also called for giving preference in the developer selection process to minority-owned businesses, community development corporations and joint ventures with such groups.

Falling through the middle

Jeanne Pinado, chief executive officer of the Madison Park Development Corporation, also said she welcomed the city’s effort.

“I do think it’s really important to set goals. That’s what drives the city toward doing what they need to do,” she said. “They ought to be applauded for [that].”

She also underscored what she said was one of the bigger challenges in building affordable housing: creating homes for middle-income families, which the mayor’s report noted had lagged behind its quarterly goal.

“I’m not surprised that middle income housing is the toughest,” she said. “There are subsidies for low-income [housing]. The money is there [from federal and city sources], it’s just a matter of getting access to sites and completing the public approval process. … And for market rate housing, there’s a huge demand, and it’s profitable for developers to build it. That leaves the middle — why would a developer focus on the middle?”

She then cited the Inclusionary Development Project Fund, administered by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, as one tool in a limited arsenal. Developers can pay into the fund to get around affordability mandates from the city.

“It’s been a struggle to finance middle income housing in Roxbury without some kind of public subsidy,” she added. “The Inclusionary Development Project Fund is the only tool we have — and it’s probably not enough.”

She said she thought one possible model to address the issue might be found in the upcoming Related Beal development at Parcel 1B located in Bulfinch Triangle, which will include 239 units of affordable and workforce residential development. Related Beal says the project will be the largest affordable and workforce unit residential project constructed in downtown Boston in more than 25 years. Construction is slated to begin in December and expects to wrap up by 2017.