Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is looking to create a $110 million housing accelerator fund to boost housing production and close financing gaps for approved but not yet started projects.
Wu is presenting her request to the City Council when it meets Dec. 4.
The fund is backed by surplus free cash funds from previous years’ budgets, and the city’s contribution will be matched by the state’s Housing Momentum Fund, a permanent revolving fund administered by Mass housing to accelerate the development of mixed-income multifamily housing. The state’s fund is part of the $5.1B Affordable Homes Act that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law in August.
Wu made her announcement at the Bunker Hill Redevelopment project in Charlestown, which will be the first project to benefit from the fund.
Wu called the city’s housing crisis the biggest stress on families across city neighborhoods and everything possible needs to be done for more housing and more affordability.
“Our Housing Accelerator Fund will wisely use city dollars to jumpstart new projects and then return those funds back to the city once the projects are financed, supporting public-private partnerships for housing, private development and home ownership,” Wu said.
Ground broke on the first building in the Bunker Hill redevelopment project in June 2023, eight years after the process began to redevelop Charlestown’s aging housing development. The first phase of the project is to replace the existing 1,110-unit public housing community into a 2,699-unit mixed-income community, representing the largest public housing redevelopment in Boston’s history.
Bunker Hill was originally built in 1940 as federal public housing. Many of its buildings have fallen into disrepair in the intervening decades due to a lack of federal funding. The existing 42 buildings will be replaced with 15 new residential buildings, retail and community space, as well as green spaces and connections to the surrounding community.
The city’s Housing Accelerator fund will cover the next phase of the project, which is a nine-story, 265-unit mixed income building. Construction is expected to start in mid to late 2025.
“We are eager to turn our attention to the second building of the project and are grateful for the collaborative effort of Mayor Wu, the City Council, and the BHA to make this appropriation a reality,” said Adelaide Grady, Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment executive director and senior vice president/partner at Leggat McCall Properties. “The timing of this enables us to keep up the momentum following the first building as we work closely with the BHA and CRA to quickly start construction on the next new homes for Bunker Hill families.”
City and state officials will work together in the coming months to identify other projects that meet the need for affordability, climate resilience and equity to participate in both funds.
“NAIOP is grateful to the Wu Administration for recognizing the challenges facing housing production in Boston,” said Tamara Small, CEO of NAIOP Massachusetts, The Commercial Real Estate Development Association. “Supporting market rate housing development is critical to addressing the housing crisis, and today I am pleased to stand with Secretary Augustus, Mayor Wu and the entire City of Boston as this new tool is implemented.”
In addition to collaborating with the state to begin construction on essential rental housing, city officials will also work with both small and large developers to explore opportunities to use this fund and the state’s fund to expedite the creation of new middle-income homeownership housing options.
“The Housing Accelerator Fund is an innovative tool in our toolbox that will add to our options and strategies, like the state’s Momentum Fund and incentives for office-to-housing conversion programs,” said City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune. “Creative initiatives like these send a strong message that Boston is working with our development partners to find shared solutions to our affordability, housing, and sustainability goals.”