Resident leaders joined the Boston Housing Authority, City Life/Vida Urbana and Greater Boston Legal Services for immersive day of community building, leadership development, and skill building at BHA's Resident Empowerment Conference.
 
Resident leaders shared their stories about how they navigated the transition of their housing communities as they underwent the redevelopment process. BHA’s partner organizations also shared their insight on how residents can activate their skills and lived experiences in order to better advocate for themselves and their neighbors.
 
“Events like these really help bring the residents together”, said Sahar Lawrence, Residence Capacity Program Manager at the BHA. “It is great to see residents from all different stages of redevelopment coming together and helping each other out.’
 
The conference consisted of immersive games, resident panels, and guest speakers that helped give more information and insight to residents going through the housing and redevelopment transition and empower them to use their voices and stand up for themselves and their communities. These transitions can be a very big change and cause for uncertainty with residents, so events like this are extremely helpful to answer question and settle any uneasiness.
 
Gisselle Torres-De La Rosa, a BHA resident of about 9 years, is very positive about redevelopment in the city. Torres-De La Rosa lives in a BHA development that is in the early stages of being redeveloped. After attending the conference and learning more from other residents that were in her position before, she is looking forward to the changes more than ever. “Just because it is low income, does not mean that it has to look low income”, says Torres-De La Rosa.
 
More events like this will take place as more sites undergo the redevelopment process. Resident leadership is a top priority throughout this process.
 
Brief about Innovative Stable Housing Initiative (ISHI):
 
The Innovative Stable Housing Initiative (ISHI) is a pilot project funded by Boston Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Determination of Need Community Health Initiative. ISHI’s goal over the next 3 years is to identify, assess, and fund strategic, place-based approaches that address displacement and increase housing stability for vulnerable populations.
 
From our grant award: The goal of the Tenant Empowerment Project is to empower tenants, whose public housing is in the process of transitioning to a different subsidy platform (typically Section 8 under the Leased Housing program) and come under new management or ownership, to protect their rights through supportive policies, initiatives, and advocacy. Through the Tenant Empowerment Project, GBLS, BHA, and CL/VU will work with tenants in public housing to prepare them for upcoming transitions from, or in reaction to, BHA’s transfer of ownership and management of their housing to private developers. With support from ISHI, the partners – experts in the complexities of the Boston affordable housing market – will address housing instability by empowering tenants with the tools needed to protect their rights before new ownership takes over their housing.