Housing Authority plans 22 rooms in Baldwin, hits a snag in purchase from Lesley University

The Cambridge Housing Authority wants to buy a Victorian-style house at 16-18 Wendell St. now used as a Lesley University dormitory and turn it into single-room-occupancy housing for formerly homeless tenants, a plan that could be controversial in the residential neighborhood off Massachusetts Avenue. Although the authority announced last month that Lesley had chosen its proposal, a spokesperson for the university was noncommittal on Wednesday, saying that Lesley, which is selling off properties it no longer needs, generally “does not publicly discuss property transactions until they close. We are looking forward to that time.”

“We underwent a thorough bidding process and consider many factors when selling a property, including the city’s interest in affordable housing for the community and the university’s interest as an educational institution and ongoing neighbor,” the spokesperson said.

Authority executive director Michael Johnston said Thursday that negotiations with Lesley “are still moving forward and we will be getting word out to the neighborhood by the end of the week.”

If it goes through, the sale will bring a third affordable-housing development to a neighborhood that now has little housing for low-income tenants. The first project is also a former Lesley property. Affordable housing developer Homeowners Rehab Inc. bought the historic building at 1627 Massachusetts Ave. in August 2022 and plans to expand it into 29 apartments.

HRI also purchased  a tennis court at 30 Wendell St. owned by Lesley last year and plans to build affordable housing on the property but has not proposed any details. And the developer could be looking at other Lesley sites; the city’s Affordable Housing Trust went into executive session at its March 28 meeting to consider a request from HRI for funding to buy a new property. The address wasn’t disclosed.

Without the HRI and the housing authority projects, the Baldwin neighborhood between Harvard and Porter squares has the third-lowest percentage of low- and moderate-income housing in the city – 5.8 percent of its housing stock. Only the MIT and West Cambridge neighborhoods have lower percentages, according to a Community Development Department report in 2023.

Announcement was early

Johnston announced at a board meeting on March 27 that Lesley had chosen the authority’s proposal, and displayed slides of its presentation to Lesley. After Cambridge Day called Lesley with questions, apparently alerting the university that the plan would be disclosed publicly, Lesley contacted CHA about the call, Johnston said in an email after the meeting. He asked the newspaper to hold off publishing a story for at least two weeks. “We strongly believe that this project is not only needed but will become a valuable resource for years to come, but it won’t happen if Lesley gets cold feet,” Johnston said in an email.

Johnston said in emails after the meeting that Lesley’s choice of the proposal had been verbal and the housing agency was hoping to negotiate an option to buy the property by June 1. He also said the authority had promised “that CHA would do neighborhood outreach as part of our due diligence and before the closing. We pledged to earn the trust of the neighborhood and dispel fears before the closing. 

“Because of my lapse [in disclosing the proposal at CHA’s public meeting], and if the article is published before we start outreach, neighbors will feel like this was a secret wink-and-a-nod deal done behind closed doors, and we’ll lose credibility before the process even starts and that is a hard hole to dig out of. Again, my only goal here is to create more deeply affordable housing for those that need supports.”

Rare option for couples

About 275 homeless people are on the city’s waiting list for supportive housing, Johnston said. About 100 have moderate need for support services, the population the CHA project is designed for, rather than people who need more extensive services.

The newspaper agreed to delay publishing a story for two weeks. As of Wednesday, the Baldwin Neighborhood Council had not heard of the proposal, said Phoebe Sinclair, the contact person for the council.

The authority is offering $8.1 million for the building and will convert it into 22 rooms, including up to 16 that can be used by couples, said CHA director of planning and development for planning Clara Fraden. Most other permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless people in Cambridge does not allow couples to live together. Single-room-occupancy buildings generally provide tenants with a one-room apartment and shared kitchen and laundry.

Lesley “had some reservations”

When the housing authority presented its plans for 16-18 Wendell St. to Lesley officials who were evaluating interested buyers, Lesley “had some reservations about permanent supportive housing,” Fraden said at the authority’s March 27 board meeting. She referred to residential properties that include services and are often designed to help homeless people transition to stable housing. Fraden’s presentation to the university said permanent supportive housing “is an evidence-based solution to homelessness” and noted that more than 95 percent of residents in Cambridge’s approximately 700 supportive housing units “remained stably housed” between 2018 and 2022.

She also said the Wendell Street property is not meant for “‘low-threshold housing,’ meaning it is not appropriate for people with long-term drug use, complex housing history, criminal history, etc.” Applicants must meet CHA’s tenant selection standards, which allow the authority to reject people with current illegal drug use, household members with any criminal history of violence against people or property, a serious drug offense or lesser crimes over the previous five years. The authority may also reject applicants whose drug or alcohol use threatens the health or safety of neighbors.

CHA planned to have the building ready for tenants by the end of this year because “it is in excellent shape and requires very little work before occupancy,” which was “a major draw” for the authority, executive director Johnston said. Money for the $8.1 million purchase price would come from the state, the city’s affordable housing trust and the authority’s own resources, he said. Getting it ready for tenants will cost only another $400,000, he said.

Process promised

The authority said in its presentation to Lesley that it will take steps to engage with the neighborhood about the project, including contacting abutters directly, holding a community meeting to discuss the permanent supportive housing model and listen to concerns and hopes for the property to “build trust,” and make staff’s contact information available to neighbors.

Lesley has been selling off some of its properties as part of a 2021 plan to remake its campuses. In 2022 it sold the Massachusetts Avenue site to HRI as well as 815-818 Somerville Ave. to KS Partners of Billerica for lab space and five buildings on Mellen Street. A year ago the university put more properties on the market, including two on Phillips St. near Harvard Square and four on Wendell St., including the 16-18 Wendell St. address that is going to the housing authority. It was put on the market for $9.5 million.

CHA has spent the past decade modernizing most of its public housing at a cost of more than $500 million, and the work is continuing. The last time the agency bought property in Cambridge was in 2009, when it bought 78-80 Porter Road, Porter Square.

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