Preserving Subsidized Housing

The Need

The shortage of affordable rental housing remains one of the most critical problems facing low-income individuals and families in Greater Boston. More than 5,000 privately-owned subsidized units in the City of Boston are at risk of losing their affordability through the year 2012 and thousands more are at risk over the next five years. At the same time, the number of homeless families in Boston has continued to increase.

These privately-owned subsidized developments are often the best housing available to low-income families. They tend to be located in safer neighborhoods with opportunities for access to good schools, employment, health care and transportation. They are vitally important to fair housing goals, providing housing for a disproportionate number of tenants of color, elderly people, families with children, and disabled residents.

Preservation is a cost effective way to leverage decades of federal, state and local investment in affordable housing. It costs over $300,000 to build a single unit of housing in the Boston market, even before adding a rent subsidy for low-income tenants. If federal and/or state subsidy contracts for a development terminate, they are gone for good and hundreds of affordable housing units essentially disappear.

The Campaign

The GBLS Housing Unit's  campaign to preserve subsidized housing includes interventions on behalf of tenants at specific developments, legislative advocacy at the state and national level, ongoing advocacy and monitoring of federal and state policies and regulations, and sharing of information with other organizations working in this area.

Litigation

GBLS represents High Point Families United, the tenant association of High Point Village, in efforts to protect the families and reinstate project-based Section 8 subsidies to maintain the development’s affordability. This 540-unit development in Roslindale lost over 300 units of affordable housing when the owner decided not to renew the long-term subsidies in 2006.  GBLS filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against the owner on behalf of the tenant group and individual tenants and is proceeding with the discovery phase of the litigation.

Burbank Apartments is a 173-unit development in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. The owner — who also owns High Point Village — recently refused to renew a contract for subsidies for 67 of the apartments, leaving the tenants vulnerable and removing the affordable housing stock. GBLS represents the Burbank Apartments Tenant Association in their efforts to preserve the long-term affordability of their development, with organizing support from the Fenway Community Development Corporation. As with High Point Villiage GBLS filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against the owner on behalf of the tenant group and individual tenants and is in the early stages of the case.

State Expiring Use Legislation-Regulations

GBLS/CASLS represented the Boston Tenants Coalition in advancing state legislation to help preserve expiring use units across the state, and after more than 20 years’ effort, a statute was adopted in November 2009.

The legislation gives rights of first refusal to government agencies if the owner wants to sell property, and also extends notice and rent protections for tenants, which gives tenants and communities more time to develop plans to preserve the units as affordable housing.

GBLS/CASLS is a member of a statutorily mandated advisory committee to provide advice and recommendations on regulations and has been actively involved in drafting regulations, which should be released for public comment this month. Efforts to prevent loss of subsidized housing development depend on what administrative guidelines are adopted. Also, there is a need to monitor how state regulations relate to federal legislative/administrative preservation efforts. The goal is to preserve all multifamily subsidized housing area in the Boston area to the extent possible and insure that the new law is effectively implemented.

Federal Legislation

GBLS has been promoting federal legislation that would provide that, in circumstances where tenants would otherwise be eligible for mobile enhanced vouchers (upon prepayment of a subsidized mortgage or rental assistance contract termination), the owner could request project-based voucher assistance in lieu of enhanced vouchers. This would be a tremendous step forward in making it possible to preserve expiring use projects rather than lose them to the market, and could potentially save thousands of units nationwide.

HUD Monitoring

GBLS conducts regular Freedom of Information Act requests to HUD regarding immediately at-risk developments across the state, and disseminates this information to other legal services offices and tenant and advocacy groups.

Preservation Advisory Committee and Housing Justice Network

The MacArthur Foundation recently awarded the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) a $4.5 million grant to preserve affordable housing statewide. These funds support a Preservation Loan Fund, an enhanced preservation database, and a Preservation Advisory Committee (PAC). GBLS/CASLS are members of the PAC which is made up of housing advocates, developers, and government real estate professionals.  The PAC serves as a forum to facilitate cross-coordination and communication on preservation efforts statewide. .

At the national level, GBLS is an acknowledged expert in finding legal solutions to preserving developments affected by the expiring use crisis. Through the national Housing Justice Network, we consult and collaborate regularly with colleagues and organizations around the country.

Looking Ahead

To date, GBLS has preserved the affordability of over 3,500 subsidized units in our service area.