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BRA approves Brighton complex that would be mostly affordable units
By adamg on Fri, 10/17/2014 - 11:43am
The BRA yesterday approved a proposed 101-apartment development on Commonwealth Avenue that would consist mostly of "affordable" units with just 20 rented at market rates.
The building would sit on land owned by the Brighton Marine Health Center at Warren Street.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
some will be unaffordable.
some will be unaffordable.
More importantly
how many parking spaces are they providing?
101
Plus 101 spaces for bicycles.
Who in there right mind is
Who in there right mind is going to pay market rate when only 20 out of 101 units are marked as "affordable". It's going to turn into another low income housing development...*sigh*
Do you understand the difference?
Affordable housing is middle-income eligible housing, not Section 8.
Oh horrors, Lovey! (gasp!) Those dirty MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE WILL INFEST IT!
Now, now
Recognize that almost no one understands that there is a difference in Boston between Low-Income Housing (really really poor people), Affordable Housing (working class people and middle class people), Market Rate Housing (upper middle class people), and Luxury (the rich). This is a sad failure on the part of urban planners and the development community in Boston because they use these terms like everyone knows what they are and then are confounded when people freak out about the construction of Affordable Housing. However, only in Boston (and perhaps SF and NYC) do we need to make these distinctions. Everywhere else, you pretty much just have to differentiate affordable housing (i.e. housing for really really poor people) and everything else because there is enough inventory in the market and cheap land to create housing that relatively poor people and middle class people can afford that you don't have to worry about them being pushed to the hinterlands and turning the city into The Boston Club.
Really?
I guess it's OK to be biased one way. You could have written it like this and pissed off a totally separate group:
Who in there right mind is going to pay market rate when only 20 out of 101 units are marked as "NOT FOR VETERANS". It's going to turn into another VETERAN housing development."
Great location. I imagine
Great location. I imagine this area is less busy than it was 60 years ago but I have no idea.
Near the B line, 57 bus and 501 express to downtown.
"mostly affordable units"?
So does this mean the city is subsidizing the construction or taxes of the company developing it? If the units aren't going for the market rate (like 95% of the buildings around it) why would a developer agree to this?
Something tells me the taxpayers of Boston are somehow subsidizing this. Best case scenario, it's "affordable rates" for ~20 years then the developer can price at market levels, but something tells me they're still getting something from City Hall to do this...
The health center is a co-developer
And will continue to own the property, so there goes land-acquisition costs. According to their filing with the BRA, they'll be seeking federal and state grants (the filing doesn't say how much).
If anything, the building would mean new revenue for the city:
Yes, it sounds like it will
Yes, it sounds like it will help Boston....at the expense of the state & federal governments.
I think the best argument against "affordable" housing subsidies is that you shouldn't offset what things really cost (aka 'market prices') with taxpayer money to help a few. It's inefficient & wasteful taxpayer spending.
While I think it's a good idea
I'm glad to see government money going to help people who didn't have the fortune of rich parents or high-paying jobs.
No such thing as "government
No such thing as "government money". It's taxpayer money! So many poor taxpayers which are barely making ends meet are being fleeced so some poor taxpayers can get a sweet deal.
Ehh
It's not a question of whether government money is helping the less fortunate, it's a question of whether this is the most effective and efficient use of finite government resources. Which it ain't.
I agree with Adam, and think
I agree with Adam, and think it's good that state and federal money will be used for middle class housing and not reserved just for low income housing, not because I oppose low income housing, but because Boston in the last decade has primarily been developed at the two ends of the income spectrum with nothing in the middle.
If this is what it takes to build truly middle class housing in this insanely priced market (and I believe that it is), I'm all for it.
Developers
prefer to build one building with all of the affordable units there so they can do it on the cheap. Much cheaper.