The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. is hoping to develop rental and owner-occupied housing specifically geared toward the needs of child care providers in the Boston neighborhood.

When a Jamaica Plain landlord recently learned that one of his tenants was running a child care business out of her home, he promptly informed her that she had to pay $25 extra a month for each child in her care.

Since the woman was caring for six children, she had to pay an additional $150 on top of her monthly rent to continue running the business. But while her landlord was willing to put up with the child care business for a fee, other property owners have simply chosen to evict home-based child care providers.

Now, a nonprofit development group in Jamaica Plain wants to help home-based child care providers in Boston by developing both rental and owner-occupied housing specifically for them. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., a nonprofit community organization, is gathering signatures for a petition to support the affordable housing initiative for home-based child care providers.

“The cost of housing is so expensive, particularly in Jamaica Plain, that a lot of providers have been priced out,” said Lisbeth Heyer, senior real estate project manager for JPNDC.

But the group faces some significant hurdles, including concerns from the city’s Fair Housing Commission. The commission argues that there is no way under current housing laws to approve the marketing and development of housing for child care providers only.

“When it comes to day care providers, that’s not a category that’s included in any of the acceptable preferences in federal, state or local laws,” said Marlena Richardson, program director of the Boston Fair Housing Commission.

The issue comes about several years after the JPNDC created a training program to help Spanish-speaking women in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and Roxbury become licensed home-based child care providers. At a meeting last June, the graduates of the program met and identified the most significant challenges they face. At the top of their list was finding and maintaining affordable housing to live in and from which they could run their businesses.

Rents for two-bedroom apartments in Jamaica Plain range from $1,250 to $1,450 and $1,500 to $1,800 for three-bedroom units, according to Prudential Prime Properties Maxfield & Company Real Estate, a firm located on Centre Street in the neighborhood. The median price for single-family homes sold through October of last year was $428,000, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. The median price for single-family homes sold the prior year was $400,000, up 34 percent from the median in 2000.

‘A Compelling Problem’

In addition to discussing housing affordability at the meeting, child care providers shared stories of being evicted because landlords were unwilling to take the risk of having several non-related children on their property. In January of this year, the group met with day care providers from Hyde Park and Roslindale to share their experiences and, once again, affordable housing was one of the main concerns addressed. Earlier this month, the group invited home-based child care providers from throughout the city to gather and decided to launch a campaign to get more housing created for day care providers. The JPNDC and child care workers plan to discuss the campaign when they meet with local lawmakers April 9.

“There are several hurdles we’re facing,” said Heyer. “On the development end, we’re confronting the issue of raising money.” The group also must address the concerns raised by the Fair Housing Commission, she said.

“So far, the Fair Housing Commission has denied approval for this kind of exclusive marketing to child care providers,” said Heyer.

State and federal laws allow housing to be sold, rented and marketed to specific groups of people. The acceptable “preferences” for housing under federal law includes households that have been displaced by a government action, homeless people, residents living in substandard housing or paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing, explained Richardson.

Under state law, housing preferences can be extended to first-time homebuyers and local residents, and under both state and federal laws housing can be marketed, sold and rented exclusively to elderly people and veterans.

“There’s no precedent that we know of and there’s no acceptable preference category either under the state, federal or local laws for day care providers,” said Richardson, who oversees affirmative marketing and housing counseling for the commission. “There’s nothing we can hang our hat on here.”

However, Boston has made an exception to create housing and work space for artists only. About two years ago, the city launched an initiative to address artists’ need for more workspace and housing. As part of the initiative, the city gave $500,000 to a project that created 13 units of artists’ live/work space in a vacant and historic building in Dorchester.

Richardson said the city had to get approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the artists housing initiative by demonstrating that artists in the city were being displaced because their live/work space was being demolished for other commercial spaces.

In addition, the city showed that the type of housing and workspace that artists required was unique to them and that the feasible uses for structures such as empty and vacant warehouses included artists’ space.

JPNDC leaders argue that if the city could make an exception for artists it could make a similar exception for home-based day care providers who are also being displaced because of evictions and rising rents and home prices.

“We don’t think that this case is any different. I think that it’s just a matter of demonstrating to the city that the discrimination and the affordable housing issues faced by child care providers is a compelling problem,” said Heyer.

But Richardson said even though home-based child care providers talk about being displaced, they have to show that they are facing evictions and rising rents more than any other household types. The question then becomes, are there are other places to which the day care providers can relocate, she said. In addition, JPNDC wants to develop housing that can be occupied by any household, not just child care providers. In contrast, when the city creates artists’ housing and workspace, the space is specifically designed for artists to live and work in, she said.

For Sylvia Toruno, the barriers that home-based child care providers confront when trying to start their business is clear. As an organizer for JPNDC, she has heard numerous horror stories from child care providers who have had to abandon their businesses and homes.

“We had one case [in which] the provider had 10 kids. It was her and an assistant taking care of the kids. The landlord said that the rents had to go up and she basically had to move. She left her [day care] kids because she had to leave her apartment and go to another place,” she said.

Aglaia Pikounis may be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.