Continuing the Patrick-Murray Administration's commitment to affordable housing across the Commonwealth, governor Deval Patrick recently joined community leaders at the site of a formerly abandoned state hospital to celebrate the completion of 50 new affordable rental apartments.
This second phase of construction at Olmsted Green was made possible through support from a number of federal and state affordable housing programs. Additionally, $5.2 million from state and federal program subsidies and tax credits have been allocated to make phase three of the construction possible.
"We are committed to strengthening and revitalizing communities through economic development projects which create new jobs and affordable housing opportunities for all. That is what Olmsted Green is all about," said governor Patrick. "We have supported this project dropping over the years and we were glad to continue that commitment for the next construction phase."
"Our administration is proud to partner with the city and federal government to help deliver more affordable housing opportunities for this community, and we look forward to further development at this site," said lieutenant governor Timothy Murray, chair of the Interagency Council for Housing and Homelessness.
The recent rental construction celebration marks the ongoing transformation of the former Boston State Hospital campus into a 42-acre mixed-use, mixed-income community. The apartments will be added to 51 other units completed in 2008. The 50 new units that will be built in phase three are a part of the 32 projects statewide that received a $189.9 million commitment from the Patrick-Murray Administration. Financial resources from public and private investments have been utilized to develop 1,786 new apartments statewide. When all three construction phases are completed at Olmsted Green, there will be 151 two and three-bedroom affordable rental apartments.
So far, Olmsted Green has created more than 200,000 hours of construction labor jobs with 67% of the workforce being people of color. 30% of the contracts have gone to minority-owned businesses, many of them from the community, and 54.5% of the jobs have gone to local residents.
"I am pleased to work with governor Patrick and mayor Menino in the development of the Olmsted Green project," said representative Willie Mae Allen. "Not only has it provided affordable housing for our community, but it has created jobs as well."
"We have seen more than 800 applications for our first phase of 100 affordable rental apartments at Olmsted Green, which shows us that there is a strong need for this product right now" said Kirk Sykes, president of the Urban Strategy America Fund, a New Boston Fund. "We are pleased that we will be able to continue to provide additional affordable rental units to the community in the near future and that we will be able to provide even more additional jobs to the community."
Olmsted Green is being developed by Lena New Boston, a partnership between Lena Park Community Development Corp. and New Boston Fund. The state, through its Department of Housing and Community Development has funded all phases of this project from programs that it administers to support affordable housing development.