Photo: Melanie Stetson Freeman/CMS Staff.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that the upscale Boston Back Bay neighborhood “worked with nonprofits to create affordable housing and apartments for formerly unhoused people, at 140 Clarendon.”
My friend Lillian and her siblings are among the few Black families that own their building in Boston’s upscale Back Bay. That’s because Lillian’s mother had the foresight to buy it in installments many years ago. Nowadays the area is prohibitive for most families, whatever their race. And as we know, affordable housing is usually fought tooth and nail in such communities. But …
Troy Aidan Sambajon writes at the Christian Science Monitor, “Garry Monteiro pauses and looks down, twiddling his thumbs. He contemplates the biggest change to his life last year. There’s a glint in his eye that wasn’t there before.
“ ‘To be honest with you, the refrigerator was a big deal,’ Mr. Monteiro chuckles, speaking in a community room at the 140 Clarendon building in Boston’s upscale Back Bay neighborhood. … But, he adds, the biggest change is having somewhere to call his own. Before moving into his apartment, the former mail courier spent nearly every night for two years on an assigned bunk at a men’s shelter.
“His routine was dictated by the shelter’s hours. He had to be out by 5:30 a.m. and back before 8 p.m. He spent his days looking for jobs or with his siblings. Every day, he worried about making it back by curfew. If he didn’t, he’d have to sleep outside. …
“The 140 Clarendon building is the rare story of a wealthy community finding solutions to homelessness. When private hotel plans stalled at the address in 2020, the neighborhood took charge. Community associations and developers backed a permanent supportive housing community – complete with on-site social services – in the heart of one of Boston’s most expensive neighborhoods.
“ ‘With homelessness numbers rising everywhere and the lack of affordable housing overwhelming, this project in the Back Bay is a welcome development,’ says Howard Koh, faculty chair of the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at Harvard University. Dr. Koh and his team say that 140 Clarendon is ‘highly unusual,’ because instead of worrying about property values, residents in a high-end neighborhood rolled out the welcome mat. …
“ ‘The collaboration of all the partners, public and private, to make such progress is a great example of how people can … rise to the challenge,’ Dr. Koh says of 140 Clarendon.
“The 111 studio apartments that now house Mr. Monteiro and his new neighbors also come with support services and case managers. The idea isn’t new, experts on ‘housing-first’ solutions say. Studies have shown the most cost-effective way to combat homelessness is to prioritize putting people in homes before securing other services. … What’s remarkable about 140 Clarendon is that Back Bay’s neighborhood and business associations signed letters of support, inviting the project onto their streets….
“ ‘It is one of those all-too-rare occasions when the public sector, the private sector, and nonprofits were able to come together and provide at least some relief,’ says Martyn Roetter, chair of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, who signed one of the letters. …
“For nearly 100 years, 140 Clarendon has anchored the neighborhood’s educational and cultural character. The building was owned by the YWCA and, at various points, has housed the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, the Snowden International School, and a 210-unit boutique hotel.
“In 2019, the YWCA decided to sell the property. The first buyer planned to evict all tenants and face-lift the exterior to make way for a ritzy private hotel. When the pandemic sank the hotel market, a new developer – Beacon Communities – stepped in, while Pine Street Inn agreed to provide on-site services to formerly houseless tenants. ‘It checked all our boxes, and the location couldn’t be better,’ says Jan Griffin, vice president of Pine Street Inn. The 13-story brick-faced building has elevators and is easily accessible to public transit, grocery stores, the Boston Public Library, and churches. …
“The Back Bay neighborhood associations – which wanted to preserve the historic brownstone and its commercial tenants – had caught wind of the development plans. In two public letters of support, the associations advocated for affordable housing to be expedited in the neighborhood. …
“In addition to 111 apartments for people experiencing homelessness, 99 other units were made into affordable housing. All the commercial tenants supported the plan, which allowed them to remain in the building. ‘The fact that the local businesses and the neighbors wanted it is a really nice testament to how that neighborhood is leaning in to trying to end homelessness on their streets with housing rather than criminalizing people for existing in their neighborhood,’ says Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance To End Homelessness.
“When Mr. Monteiro arrived at Pine Street’s shelters in 2021, his only possessions were the clothes on his back and a canvas messenger bag from his past life as a courier. … After 20 years of working, Mr. Monteiro left it all behind to take care of his parents. ‘I knew basically that once they passed away, I would have to start over,’ he says. ‘And I’d still do it again.’ “
More at the Monitor, here. No paywall. Subscriptions encouraged — and very reasonable.
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