IBA, BHA complete renovation of affordable South End brownstones

Mandile Mpofu

November 21, 2024

For the Boston Housing Authority and Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, a community development nonprofit, last Tuesday marked the completed renovation of 146 affordable housing units in the South End.

The brownstone apartments on West Newton and Rutland Streets, which include studios and multibedroom units, underwent interior and exterior rehabilitation, providing residents, the majority of whom are Black and Hispanic, with upgraded facilities.

“We feel very lucky that we have public housing all over Boston in almost every city neighborhood. That’s not true in all cities in America, by any means,” said Kenzie Bok, administrator and CEO of the Boston Housing Authority. “So we feel like that’s a really important foothold we have for keeping Boston accessible for people from all walks of life and all neighborhoods.”

In 2015, IBA responded to a request for proposal from the Boston Housing Authority which sought a development partner to revamp the units while maintaining their affordability and preventing residents from being displaced. Construction began around 2018.

Bok said the renovated units were a testament to the Boston Housing Authority’s multi-decade partnership with IBA. The collaboration dates back to IBA’s founding in 1968 in response to the potential displacement of a group of Puerto Ricans living in the South End. Since then, the organization has grown its affordable housing portfolio to over 600 units.

“To have this opportunity to partner with them, to give our BHA residents these really new-feeling, fully renovated units in the historic South End and know that IBA is going to be our partner, owning and managing those for the long term, it’s just like a great achievement,” Bok said.

As part of the partnership, the Boston Housing Authority transferred ownership of the units to IBA but retained a lease on the land, ensuring the long-term affordability of the units. Residents pay 30% of their income in rent to live in the West Newton and Rutland apartments.

The development is funded through historic tax credits, Wells Fargo, MassHousing, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which allows the Boston Housing Authority to finance the improvements and better maintain them long term, Bok said.

“I am so grateful for our partners who share our dedication to making Boston an affordable, attainable, and enjoyable home for everyone,” said Mayor Michelle Wu at a ribbon-cutting last week. “This transfer and renovation process exemplifies the different approaches we can take to preserve much-needed affordable housing in our city. Thank you to everyone who worked to keep these families in our city and ensure affordable housing in perpetuity in this neighborhood.”

The renovated units feature upgraded facades, windows, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and a sprinkler system. The development project also included an overhaul of 11 units previously vacant due to fire damage, additional parking spaces, and eight new accessible units.

Mayra I. Negrón-Roche, chief operation officer of IBA, also highlighted the units’ front doors, whose current design she said was intentional. Unlike the previous doors, which she described as “institutional,” the new ones reflect an emphasis on and pride in quality affordable housing.

The doors “bring the beauty” to the apartment buildings, making it impossible to “distinguish whether you are in a luxury condo or you are in an affordable housing,” she said.

With IBA having taken over the West Newton and Rutland apartments, residents will also have free access to the organization’s cultural offerings. Among those are early education, youth development, financial empowerment and business services programs.

For IBA, “affordable housing is not just to provide the roof over someone’s head; it’s the wraparound services,” Negrón-Roche said.

Keeping the brownstone apartments affordable, she said, allows residents to continue to live in the historic South End neighborhood with easy access to public transportation while forestalling displacement.

For the Boston Housing Authority, safeguarding the apartments is part of the institution’s broader mission to ensure affordable housing in the city.

“It means so much to us to be able to preserve those South End units for the long term. Because the South End is a historic, multi-racial, working-class neighborhood, it’s become very expensive these days,” she said. “But we really feel like anchoring our folks still there on West Newton Street is really a connection to that century and a half of history from the South End, and we really feel like our folks, low-income people from all communities, really made that neighborhood what it is, and they deserve to stay there.”

This article was originally published by the Bay State Banner.