Mayor Michelle Wu and executives from Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust marked the 1,000th apartment acquisition under a city-backed anti-displacement program. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
A zero-interest loan from the city of Boston and pressure from a vocal anti-eviction group helped a local community land trust prevail in a drawn-out bidding war against private investors for a Dorchester property in July.
The Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust has acquired seven properties totaling 32 units through a city program designed to prevent rent hikes by private investors.
The two-family home at 364 Harvard St. in Dorchester was acquired July 1 by the land trust for $710,000 and received $300,000 in financing from the Acquisition Opportunity program through the Mayor’s Office of Housing. The bidding process lasted nearly a year, pitting the land trust against private bidders offering cash for the 2-story, 2,618-square-foot duplex located on a quiet side street near Franklin Park.
“It was a long process, and every time we would make some progress the cash buyers were trying to outcompete us,” Executive Director Meridith Levy said.
The program has helped fund acquisitions of 1,000 apartments that will retain affordable rents under new ownership. It doles out soft financing to private and nonprofit developers to fight displacement caused by rising rents after properties are acquired by investors.
Jamaica Plain-based tenant advocacy group City Life Vida Urbana supported the existing tenants, who vowed to fight eviction and posting placards vowing to remain at the property, dissuading competitors from completing the acquisition. The group has organized protests at rental properties in Greater Boston to call attention to rent hikes and evictions by apartment landlords.
“We put up signs that said, `We Shall Not Be Moved,’” said Antonio Ennis, a community organizer for City Life Vida Urbana. “And a lot of investors that know of us, when they see a home with those signs, they become less intrigued to purchase it.”
The Life Initiative of Boston provided a $475,000 mortgage for the 364 Harvard St. transaction.
The city’s portion of the loan package is forgivable to buyers that abide by requirements of the program, including agreeing to keep rents affordable for at least 50 years, and retaining tenants in good standing.
The Acquisition Opportunity Program launched in 2016 to subsidize nonprofit developers’ acquisitions of apartment properties. Since then, the city has spent $97 million on the program.
The program’s budget has expanded in recent years, adding $56 million in federal funding, resulting in acquisition of 1,000 units nearly four years ahead of the original 2030 target.
That was thanks in part to a $47 million deal in 2022 that saw the city put in $11 million from various funding sources to help a nonprofit buy a 36-building, 114-apartment portfolio in East Boston and preserve low rents at what had previously been so-called “naturally-occurring affordable housing.”
