Planning Office for Urban Affairs - ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON

WHAT'S NEW

Rental Housing Award Announcement

(photo L to R: Representative Aaron Michlewitz, Senator Linda Dorcena Forry, POUA President Lisa Alberghini, St. Francis House ED Karen LaFrazia, Governor Charlie Baker, Undersecretary Chrystal Kornegay)

On August 15th Governor Charlie Baker announced that 26 projects will receive funding to create affordable housing, including 48 Boylston where the event took place. St. Francis House (SFH), the largest day shelter in Boston for the homeless, is Sponsor of the 48 Boylston project and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs is happy to be providing support to SFH as they work to convert the property. The development involves the rehabilitation of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union into 46 units of affordable housing, 26 of which will be for people who have experienced homelessness or are extremely low-income.

Information on the Governor’s announcement can be found here, as well as in the below video:

Harbor Place Lottery

We are now accepting applications for affordable apartments at Harbor Place in Haverhill, MA from now until October 4th at this link.Following this, we will be holding a lottery and processing applications based on lottery number. The lottery will be held on Wednesday, October 19th at 11AM at Haverhill Public Library.

For those interested in learning more, there will be informational meetings Tuesday, Aug. 30, at 4 and 6 p.m., at Haverhill Public Library.

Projects Receive Historic Tax Credits

Two projects POUA is taking part in recently received allocations of Massachusetts Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits: Kennedy Building Apartments in Hanover, MA, in which we are the developer, and 48 Boylston Street in Boston, MA, where we will be providing support to St. Francis House. Kennedy Building Apartments is the adaptive reuse of an existing dormitory building on the Cardinal Cushing Centers Campus into 37 units of mixed-income workforce housing and 48 Boylston Street is the rehabilitation of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union building into 46 units of affordable housing.

Harbor Place Looks to the Future

On June 15th, POUA joined the Greater Haverhill Foundation, Mayor James Fiorentini, and Tim Jordan and others from Team Haverhill, to put together a time capsule to be opened in the year 2041 and to bury it within the (under construction) Harbor Place development. The team requested ideas from students, our future, and had town members vote on items to be included in the time capsule. Students from Tilton (elementary) School, Hunking (middle) School and Haverhill High chose items to be included, and one member of each class was chosen to a include a letter to his/her future self. The event summarized Haverhill's past and its present state, including the progress of the Harbor Place building, and looked towards it future.

Check out video from the event here, thanks to HC Media.

Uphams Crossing BRJP Hiring Numbers Highlighted

The Mayor's Office of Workforce Development included an article on POUA's Uphams Crossing development in their most recent newsletter. The article detailed the project's adherence to the Boston Residents Job Policy hiring numbers and how the team achieved their goals of hiring 45% Boston residents, 50% minority workers, and 6% female workers, to complete Uphams Crossing. Check out the article here.