After buying three parcels that will let it create up to 110 low-income housing units, the Cambridge Housing Authority is seeking to purchase more properties, it was disclosed on Thursday.
On Jan. 14, CHA director of planning and development Margaret Donnelly Moran said the authority had purchased three parcels on Mellen St. from Lesley University and planned to create 90 to 110 housing units for low-income families. Those three parcels, known as 31-37 Mellen St., include four buildings, and cost $13 million. It was revealed Thursday that the Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust will contribute $9.8 million toward the purchase, an amount approved last fall while the authority was negotiating with Lesley.
In addition, a monthly report of Trust activity released Thursday said that, in executive session at its Dec. 11 meeting, the agency also approved helping the housing authority make two additional purchases for an undisclosed number of properties. It also did not disclose the amount. Executive session allows confidential discussion of a subject within an otherwise public meeting. Members of the Trust also went into executive session at Thursday’s meeting to discuss a request by the housing authority for help buying another property. The location, number and asking price of the properties was not revealed.
Affordable Housing Overlay at work
The authority is acting under the city’s ground-breaking Affordable Housing Overlay zoning ordinance, which gives developers of 100 percent affordable housing projects freedom from some zoning restrictions. That zoning was adopted in 2020 to reduce the time needed to approve low- and moderate-income housing and thus give affordable housing developers more ability to compete with market-rate housing builders. In 2023 the city council amended the ordinance to allow higher buildings in some areas.
Lesley, meanwhile, has been selling many of its properties in Cambridge as part of a 2021 plan to remake and connect the university’s three campuses in Cambridge and “right-size the university assets,” Lesley said in its 2022 town-gown report to the Planning Board. A number have gone to affordable housing developers including Homeowners Rehab Inc. and Just-A-Start.
The sales by Lesley have led to more low-income housing to a neighborhood that previously had the third lowest percentage of affordable units among the city’s 13 neighborhoods. Almost six percent of the housing stock in the Baldwin neighborhood between Harvard and Porter Squares was affordable before the purchases from Lesley, the report said.
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Really glad to see CHA keeping up the momentum on affordable housing.
The Mellen Street purchase feels like a big win. It’s great to see more projects coming to a neighborhood that’s needed it for a while.
The Affordable Housing Overlay is showing what can be done when the city and local institutions work together.
It’s wonderful to see affordable housing built for families in need. The world needs more civic-minded projects.
How about the Lesley property at 33 Everett Street?