Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment | Charlestown

Demo! (Corey @ Medford St)
PXL_20230510_191708212.jpg


PXL_20230510_191713686.jpg


PXL_20230510_191749660.jpg
 
These developments are great, but one of the problems is that the city relinquishes control of the properties. As far as Im aware the developers only need to provide the affordable or section 8 units for 40 years, after which they can charge market rate for every unit. Does anyone know if in Boston were putting in place some kind of mechanism that will keep these conversions affordable forever? If not thats a massive oversight for a short term gain.
 
stick n move said:
These developments are great, but one of the problems is that the city relinquishes control of the properties. As far as Im aware the developers only need to provide the affordable or section 8 units for 40 years, after which they can charge market rate for every unit. Does anyone know if in Boston were putting in place some kind of mechanism that will keep these conversions affordable forever? If not thats a massive oversight for a short term gain.
Click to expand...
40 years is not that short a time period. And if you look at the condition of the city owned projects even 20 years after they were built, private ownership and maintenance is a good thing. Maintenance is an alien concept to the Boston Housing Authority.
 
At the Rutherford/BHCC parking lots the city was offering a 99 year ground lease…thought it was the same here.
 
stick n move said:
These developments are great, but one of the problems is that the city relinquishes control of the properties. As far as Im aware the developers only need to provide the affordable or section 8 units for 40 years, after which they can charge market rate for every unit. Does anyone know if in Boston were putting in place some kind of mechanism that will keep these conversions affordable forever? If not thats a massive oversight for a short term gain.
Click to expand...
I doubt that these papier mâché buildings will even be rentable in 40 years.
 
Last edited:
beck4537 said:
www.bostonherald.com

Ground breaks on massive, $1.4B public housing redevelopment in Charlestown

The project will turn the 1,100-unit Bunker Hill Public Housing Development in Charlestown into a 2,699-unit mixed-income community, and officials said Friday the redevelopment has been a long-time…
www.bostonherald.com www.bostonherald.com
Click to expand...

Here's the top rated comment from the article:
1687225780140.png

On one hand I understand the general sentiment, and it's true that most people with families would likely gravitate away from this type of development. On the other hand I do think the market rate will more likely be filled by young professionals, often splitting costs as roommates, and ultimately the rentals will fill up well enough to make this a success.
 
The whole point of the new “mixed income” communities is that its a place where people of all backgrounds and incomes live together and it helps rise all boats. Where theyve been done they accomplish this. The point is to not put a ton of only low income people all in one spot separated from everybody else because that hasnt worked the best in the past (for a lot of reasons).

These days they dont really build any new public housing so instead low income ppl are given vouchers that let them live in regular market rate buildings and the voucher makes up the difference. With a project like this with affordable units the developer gets a tax break to make up the difference, so the developer doesnt lose any money by having affordable units. Whether said person above lives in a mixed income development or a market rate development, low income people live there, he most likely just doesnt notice. Thats really what the point of the whole thing is.
 
DZH22 said:
Here's the top rated comment from the article:
View attachment 39332
On one hand I understand the general sentiment, and it's true that most people with families would likely gravitate away from this type of development. On the other hand I do think the market rate will more likely be filled by young professionals, often splitting costs as roommates, and ultimately the rentals will fill up well enough to make this a success.
Click to expand...
"Section 8 Voucher Deadbeats." How much you want to bet a bunch of these "deadbeats" are immigrants who arrived in this country working 2 jobs? I grew up in these projects. A lot of my friends did. A lot of the kids end up working part time jobs to help their family. I can guarantee they worked harder than this asshat.
 
KentXie said:
"Section 8 Voucher Deadbeats."
Click to expand...
I grew up in a public housing project as well, and my family, and the other families, were not deadbeats. I went on to college, and then a few years after that, graduate school. My best friend, who also lived in "the projects", became a lawyer. So, it's pretty ignorant to generalize and stereotype occupants of low income units.
 
Long article by Catherine Carlock about this complex getting underway.
www.bostonglobe.com

The $1.4-billion-plus redevelopment of Bostonâs largest public housing complex is finally underway - The Boston Globe

Even by the standards of large-scale real-estate development, the overhaul of Charlestown’s Bunker Hill public housing complex has been an epic saga.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

I am really curious if this will be successful or not. Personally, I doubt I could currently afford the market rent (pretty good job but child support is financially crippling). However, if I did make enough to afford it, I think this type of development would be my absolute last choice for living in. I'm sure I'm not alone either. It's going to take 1700 altruistic people/families to successfully subsidize the rest of it. Are there enough of them out there? Will it be cheaper than actual "market" rent in the rest of the city, or do we expect people with options of not living among 37% deeply-subsidized low income renters to still live here?
 
DZH22 said:
Long article by Catherine Carlock about this complex getting underway.
www.bostonglobe.com

The $1.4-billion-plus redevelopment of Bostonâs largest public housing complex is finally underway - The Boston Globe

Even by the standards of large-scale real-estate development, the overhaul of Charlestown’s Bunker Hill public housing complex has been an epic saga.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

I am really curious if this will be successful or not. Personally, I doubt I could currently afford the market rent (pretty good job but child support is financially crippling). However, if I did make enough to afford it, I think this type of development would be my absolute last choice for living in. I'm sure I'm not alone either. It's going to take 1700 altruistic people/families to successfully subsidize the rest of it. Are there enough of them out there? Will it be cheaper than actual "market" rent in the rest of the city, or do we expect people with options of not living among 37% deeply-subsidized low income renters to still live here?
Click to expand...


It's also a transit desert with no good transit options. Just completely surrounded by highways, traffic, and buses that only come once per hour with no late evening or Sunday service. I suppose there's the ferry nearby but there's no rapid transit connection and it's a double fare to transfer on a separate ticket. No bike lanes either to go anywhere. Cars scream past at 45 - 50 mph on nearby streets (I'm looking at you... Chelsea St.).

This new project is pretty much car dependent.
 
Delvin4519 said:
It's also a transit desert with no good transit options. Just completely surrounded by highways, traffic, and buses that only come once per hour with no late evening or Sunday service. I suppose there's the ferry nearby but there's no rapid transit connection and it's a double fare to transfer on a separate ticket. No bike lanes either to go anywhere. Cars scream past at 45 - 50 mph on nearby streets (I'm looking at you... Chelsea St.).

This new project is pretty much car dependent.
Click to expand...
I lived in a mixed income development of this type in Chinatown for 5 years (as a market rate renter). And the experience was fine.

But two caveats that this development does not offer. The market rate units in my Chinatown building were floors 11-22 -- with spectacular views. And there was rapid transit 2 minutes away from the building (Orange and Silver Line), transit score 100, plus a walk score of 99.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I lived in a mixed income development of this type in Chinatown for 5 years (as a market rate renter). And the experience was fine.

But two caveats that this development does not offer. The market rate units in my Chinatown building were floors 11-22 -- with spectacular views. And there was rapid transit 2 minutes away from the building (Orange and Silver Line), transit score 100, plus a walk score of 99.
Click to expand...

Yea, that was the thing I was pointing out directly. This project does not have any multimodal transport options available. Meaning anyone who wants to come to this development project is going to have to be burdened with having the cost of a polluting automobile to get anywhere, or wait an hour for a bus that came every 15 - 18 minutes pre-COVID. I'm not aware of any traffic calming projects or bike lane projects starting construction anytime soon in the neighborhood. Bunker Hill is not good to get across for those with accessibility issues to get to Main Street for commercial businesses, let alone other grocery options. Transit only goes to Chelsea St to downtown, and there's no bike lane to Community College station from this development project.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top