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The BHA has consistently exceeded its occupancy goals for 2015. Most recent quarter occupancy rate is 98.01. This remains among the highest occupancy rates in the nation for a large urban housing authority.
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The BHA housed 115 Chronically Homeless Veterans with VASH vouchers this year.
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The BHA achieved HUD high-performer status for its Section 8 programs and the highest score in BHA history for HUD’s physical inspections of the public housing portfolio.
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The BHA has designated developer partners this year for the redevelopment of over 2000 units of distressed public housing in Charlestown, Roxbury, East Boston, Jamaica Plain, South Boston and the South End. These deeply affordable replacement units will be complemented by over 2300 units of new mixed income housing that will add to the critically-needed housing supply in Boston.
At Orient Heights in East Boston, the BHA and developer partner Trinity Financial will be redeveloping the distressed Orient Heights housing development, creating 330 brand new units of deeply subsidized housing along while adding 69 market units to the site.
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In Charlestown, BHA and developer partner Corcoran Sun-Cal will be developing 2700 new units of mixed income housing, including 1100 deeply-subsidized replacement units.
At Amory Street in Jamaica Plain, BHA and developer partners The Community Builders, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, and Urban Edge will be renovating the existing 225-unit elderly/disabled development, preserving this critical housing resource while adding up to 300 new units of mixed-income housing on vacant land at the site, including additional affordable units.
At West Newton Street apartments in the South End, the BHA has designated the local community development corporation Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion to renovate and preserve 145 units of deeply subsidized low-income housing. The BHA is also in the process of designating a developer for a similar all-affordable renovation at the 360-unit Lenox Camden site in Lower Roxbury.
--The BHA has partnered with the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation and Caritas, Inc. to develop 46 new units of low-income senior housing on vacant land in South Boston.
--In recognition that there will be a 50% increase in the number of low-income seniors looking for affordable housing by 2030, the BHA pro-actively took action to revise the tenant selection process in its elderly/disabled developments. Under the previous rules, up to 70% of units in an elderly/disabled development could be occupied by elderly persons, with up to 30% of units occupied by non-elderly persons with disabilities. Under the revised policy, the BHA will increase the elderly share to 80% over a number of years. The BHA is continuing to accommodate the need for housing for people with disabilities through this transition with its public housing and Section 8 portfolio.