Thomas Breen photo
Serena Neal-Sanjurjo: “Good things happening” in Newhallville.
City-owned vacant lots at the corner of Thompson Street and Winchester Avenue will boast nine new affordable two-family homes in an initiative to build wealth and “opportunities for investment.”
City neighborhoods chief Serena Neal-Sanjurjo announced the project at a Newhallville Community Management Team gathering.
Neal-Sanjurjo, executive director of the city’s Livable City Initiative (LCI), said that in mid-November the city plans to break ground on the construction of the nine new two-family homes on vacant lots on Thompson Street and Winchester Avenue.
Tuesday night’s management team meeting.
The project, subsidized by both LCI and the state Department of Housing, is nearly identical to the five new affordable two-family homes that the city and the state partnered to build in Judith Terrace in Fair Haven Heights earlier this year: Families earning between 60 to 100 percent of the area median income (AMI) will have an opportunity to purchase each home, live in one unit, and rent out the other at affordable rates.
The city and the state have been working for three years putting together the financing for this housing construction project, she said. After a mid-November groundbreaking, she said, the houses should be built within nine months.
“I know it’s been a long time coming,” she told the crowded room Tuesday night in the Lincoln-Bassett School cafeteria. “You all have been patient, but it is exciting to finally get this thing off the ground.”
The city-owned vacant lot on Thompson Street that will soon hold three new two-family homes. Six other new homes will be built on Winchester.
“Please tell folks you know,” she added, that these houses will be available for purchase by local low-income families. The city will also be providing down-payment and closing cost assistance. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to purchase a home,” she said. “We’re trying to build equity back into the neighborhoods that have been disinvested.”
Shifting to another Newhallville-focused wealth-building initiative, Neal-Sanjurjo also told neighbors about how the city recently closed on the abandoned Bassett Street building that used to house the state Department of Social Services.
“We are now in pre-development” and looking to find additional resources and partners to make the planned worker-owned commercial laundry intended for that site a reality, she said. “Good things are happening” in Newhallville.
Harris.
What do you think the timeline for the Bassett Street project might be? asked management team chair Kim Harris. Years?
“We are hoping to get through predevelopment over the next six months.,” Neal-Sanjurjo responded. That includes signing partnership agreements, getting someone to come and install the laundry equipment, and doing leasehold improvements.
“We’re looking at a timeline of around 18 months in total,” she said.
Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter.
Have any partners signed up yet for the planned commercial laundry? Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter asked.
Not yet, Neal-Sanjurjo said. “We are in discussion with partners.”
Newhallville resident Jerome.
What’s the end goal for these various projects? asked a neighborhood resident named Jerome. “Is it going to bring cash flow into our pockets or out of our pockets?”
The idea behind the Bassett Street building acquisition is to bring jobs to the neighborhood, Neal-Sanjurjo said.
Based on the city’s latest estimate, she said, the new laundry should create 100 jobs in total. And the company will be worker-owned: “The employees will earn a profit-share from the actual business.”
As for the Winchester-Thompson affordable housing projcet, she said, “Whenever you can build a house that is subsidized with public funding and open it up to folks who want to buy as opposed to renting, you’re always creating an opportunity for investment, and not disinvestment.”
“Newhallville’s been neglected,” she continued. “We know that. We are trying to work really hard in bringing some investment back into this neighborhood. It’s not going to hurt your pocket. It’s going to help your pocket at the end of the day.”
60-100% of AMI? How were those metrics were chosen? What about less fortunate families? someone at 100% AMI should be able to buy a market rate house, this subsidy should be going to people with lower AMI.