City officials and community leaders gathered last week to mark the beginning of a renovation project at the YWCA headquarters at 140 Clarendon St. in Boston that will create new housing for low-income individuals.
Advocates for the homeless have watched in dismay as the stock of rooming houses, a temporary and inexpensive housing choice for low-income people who are often struggling to secure more permanent housing, has diminished over the last two decades.
That’s why affordable housing advocates typically welcome any infusion of new units designed for single adults transitioning out of homelessness. Last week, as city officials and community leaders gathered to mark the construction of 127 new single-room occupancy (SRO) units in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, some of these advocates were quick to offer their praise for a project they say is badly needed.
“This is often a really good option for clients moving out of homelessness,” said Linda Wood Boyle, executive director of HomeStart Inc., a Boston-based group that helps homeless people in Greater Boston obtain housing. “Any new housing that’s targeted to folks who are low-income is welcome news.”
The new units will be located in the headquarters of the YWCA of Boston at 140 Clarendon St. Seventy-nine of the units will be reserved for households with incomes that are less 30 percent of the area median income – or $17,350 – and less than 60 percent of the area median income, which translates to $33,660. In addition, 57 out of 70 existing studio and one-bedroom apartments at the site will be renovated. As part of a larger campaign, the YWCA also will renovate 200 existing single-room units at its Berkeley Residence in Boston.
“Housing has been a very important part of our mission,” said Judy Parks, vice president of real estate and asset management for the YWCA, which was founded in 1866.
Already half of the YWCA’s budget is real estate-based, according to Park. The YWCA’s real estate portfolio currently includes 279 housing units: 200 units at its Berkeley Residence, 70 apartments on Clarendon Street and nine units in Roxbury for pregnant teen-agers.
Mining ‘Bedrock’
After undergoing a strategic planning process about five years ago, YWCA leaders decided to refocus a lot of energy on housing. “It really became clear to us that housing was our bedrock,” said Parks. “We wanted to expand our housing resources.”
The YWCA wanted to create housing that would draw and serve a diverse group of people, said Parks. While 40 percent of all the units at the Clarendon Street site will be for lower-income households, the other units will be available for anyone, including travelers, seeking inexpensive temporary housing.
Units will be available for rent on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The affordable units will only be available for rent on a monthly basis. Monthly rents will depend on an individual’s income, with the affordable SROs renting for either $434 per month or $849 per month. The monthly rents for the affordable apartments will be $849 per month for the studios and $909 per month for the one-bedroom units.
Rents for the market-rate apartments will range from $1,100 to $1,500 per month, while the SROs will rent for $240 per week, or $124 per night.
YWCA leaders found the Clarendon Street site particularly ideal because of its location near public transportation, jobs and all the other amenities that a large city like Boston has to offer, explained Parks.
In addition, part of the success of that site is that the building, unlike a typical rooming house, has been used for both residential and commercial purposes, said Parks. While most of the building has been reserved for residential use, about 6,000 square feet is used as commercial rental space.
The YWCA currently rents space to the Lyric Stage and the Snowden International High School. Other parts of the building are used for YWCA programs.
“We already have a community base there,” said Parks. “It became clear to us that we had a successful model here and we wanted to improve on it.”
Joe Finn, executive director for the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, said the production of any housing geared to people earning less than 30 percent of the area median income is needed because there is a major shortage of such housing.
A significant portion of the old rooming houses have disappeared over the last 10 to 20 years, according to Boyle and Finn, mainly because investors have bought properties and converted them into condominiums.
The start of the project comes as one of the city’s homeless shelters is searching for new space to house 65 men who are expected to be evicted in June from a building owned by the YMCA Greater Boston.
The YMCA – which has no affiliation with the YWCA in Boston – is not renewing its lease with the Cardinal Medeiros Transitional Program at its Hastings building on Huntington Avenue, according to published reports, because the YMCA wants to find a buyer or tenant to help it recoup the costs of renovating the old building.
The loss of the units will be challenging for the city as it struggles with overcrowded homeless shelters.
Meanwhile, the YWCA, which expects the Clarendon Street building project to be complete by June of next year, has secured funding from a variety of sources for the renovation, including $2 million in city grants, $1.25 million from the state and a $20 million loan from Fleet Bank.
Since the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the renovation project will entail historic preservation, the YWCA also will be able to take advantage of historic building tax credits.
