Mayor Walsh Makes $14 Million Available for Affordable Housing

Mayor Marty Walsh made $14 million available for affordable housing projects on Sept. 15, the mayor’s office said in a press release.

The funding will be available through the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development via two $7 million competitive Requests for Proposals, the mayor’s office said. Walsh aims to create 6,500 units of affordable housing by 2030.

The $14 million is part of Walsh’s goal to create 6,500 new units of affordable housing by 2030, the Mayor’s office said. So far Walsh has made $70 million available for affordable housing.

The two proposals that are selected must align with the administration’s housing plan, “Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030,” the mayor’s office said.

The priorities under the proposals include developments that utilize city-owned land, housing developments that target a mixed range of incomes, projects that can be built efficiently, creation of housing that serves the disabled community, acquiring unrestricted housing developments in order to stabilize tenancies and provide long-term affordable housing and projects creating new affordable housing units in high-cost neighborhoods, the mayor’s office said.

“We must keep Boston equitable and affordable for all of our residents,” Mayor Walsh said in  a statement. “This funding will help us continue to build a pipeline of affordable housing, giving us the ability to reach the ambitious goals laid out in our housing plan.”

Half of the funding for the two proposals is provided by the Neighborhood Housing Trust,  the mayor’s office said. The Neighborhood Housing Trust administers the city’s linkage policy, which requires developers to make contributions to affordable housing based on a formula calculated per square foot of commercial space constructed.

The other half comes from other sources such as the city’s Inclusionary Development Fund (IDF), which allows developers to make a cash payment in-lieu of building affordable housing units on site, the mayor’s office said. The IDF was updated through an executive order signed by Mayor Walsh in December 2015, which increased developer contributions.