Say Brother; 1823; Housing the Black Family: Is Boston an Option

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Coming up housing the black family is Boston an option next on say brother You You For the past few seasons say brother is devoted an entire group

of shows to a different aspect of a single topic of Importance to our target audience as a result this year we offered our viewers an in -depth look at issues concerning the black family Good evening. I'm Elliott Francis and welcome to this evening's edition of say brother The title of tonight's show is housing the black family is Boston an option And it's the last on this year's say brothers community forum series on the black family We're pleased to have a Distinguished panel of guests along with a studio audience this evening or here to share their concerns and Expertise regarding Boston's affordable housing crunch We hope to give a better idea about some of the new developments on the housing front But most importantly we want to leave you with a sense of hope that Progress is being made to ensure that Boston remains an option for housing our families now before we introduce our panel meet Richard Nelson of the National Association of Housing redevelopment officials who sets the overall tone for tonight's discussion well Naro is a national organization representing people

who are involved in providing housing for low -income people and improving neighborhoods and our primary purpose is to try to generate the kind of interest that is needed in Washington to ensure that we get adequate funding for these programs and our real mission right now is To really put on the front burner The issue of housing because we think that there really is a crisis in terms of low -income housing across the country One local example of this crisis is the situation affecting residents of Boston's Westminster Willard development Who might lose their rent subsidies when a new owner takes over the complex? My name is Ramon Villa fain Junior. I am a resident of 1829 Washington Street in the city of Boston I am the chairperson for Westminster and Willard apartment organization for the last 15 years We fought hard to make sure that we had affordable housing in lower Roxbury. The mayor Must show again

that he is a friend of the tenants of the city in terms of further Defending affordable housing in the city Are him being silent at this present time one way or another on this approval He is Actually Walking away from affordability question condo co -op long -term subsidies. What do you think works for low -income housing structures? What can work what has worked? I think that what really we've got to look at is just providing some rental units all across the market in Mixed developments not in single developments condos and co -ops We can have some of it, but the fact is most low -income people cannot afford to own a

home They we might be able to reduce the cost of home ownership But the fact is that you've got maintenance long -term maintenance taxes and in some cases That's just more than a low -income family can afford So I don't really look at home ownership opportunities as a major means of solving the low -income housing problem what we need to do is to ensure in all new rental units or Rental developments by the private sector that they provide some low -income Units And now let me introduce our panel for this evening first meet the deputy assistant secretary for the state office of communities and development one Patterson Next to one is Patricia Silver the silver is marketing consultant to the Winslow court condominium complex Located on Dudley Street in Rocksbury. There you see it Next to Patricia is Pablo Calderon. Mr. Calderon is vice president of design housing incorporated They're currently building the

homes at Rocksbury crossing another affordable housing project set to go on the market very soon I want welcome you all to say brother this evening. Thank you for coming down and Discussing a problem that has been building for some time now a lot of people say there are no signs of it getting any better one my first question is to you given the housing situation which is Decidedly bad at this point in Boston. Is it going to get any better? there any hopes for it to get any better? I definitely have hope that it's going to get better. In fact, I see Very visible signs that some positive things are happening in our communities like what well for example We're beginning to see the infusion of a lot of Resources from the state We're seeing a degree of cooperation out of the city We're seeing the investment of energy effort and resources by Community development corporations by the private sector by the public sector all working together in What I consider

an emerging partnership to meet the housing needs of the residents of the city Okay, Patricia you're involved with the Winslow court. That's good. Okay Give me a lay of the land there that you're almost or the the complex has been completed It's just about completed. It's in its last phase of completion in terms of the marketing We have closed off our application process on April 27th. What is it? What are we talking about here? What does it mean up with rental units condominiums? There are condominiums there two and three bedroom condominiums Winslow court is located in two separate units one housing 18 two -bedroom units and the other housing six two and three -bedroom units and And Pablo you're concerned Roxbury crossing a Roxbury crossing development. How's that coming? design housing is presently Developing 22 affordable housing units right at Roxbury crossing adjacent to the new Roxbury orange line the

units are all three and four bedrooms and approximately 1 square feet so they are large units gear more towards families in our community But most importantly is the funding that's being used for This development is from the state out of the MFHA the mass housing finance agency and Another new program from the state called the home ownership opportunity program and What is what is that to explain that well this as presently? the state home ownership opportunity program is a program that requires people to Put down five percent and our units are selling from 56 to 110 ,000 just five percent down payment front if you're using the state home ownership program which right now for the folks in in the audience and also at home the

is a program that's in jeopardy and a program that and the new MFHA bonding is Requiring that people put down eight point five which is something that our development is making it accessible to people because of The down payment and also that the interest rates are five point five You said it's in jeopardy In jeopardy in that we may not see it happen or just right now that it's salvageable and if I think it's eligible right now if folks begin to work with their Area representatives and also with the state and congressman Donnelly is proposing the bill to bring back the Home ownership program at five point five, but the proposal right now is at eight point five So folks should contact or the local representatives I first of all I want to say you're all to be commended in in my view And I think in in the view of a number of our viewers and folks here in the studio audience

So an affordability advocate and two developers who I think are really trying to go out of their way to make the Possibility of affordable housing and reality which is something a lot of people say just might not happen Pat you're in the stage of marketing the The development what kind of problems are you coming up with what are the questions you're hearing from people because certainly? I talked to a lot of folks and People sometimes still they want to own their own Houses, but they you know, it's it's either cost prohibitive or they're so stuck in the the rental turnaround What kind of problems are you encountering? I think one of the Frequent problems that I come about is just the term condominium. Yeah, a lot of people don't understand what? Condominium actually means I'm the C word and it's also in their eyes meaning Overly expensive. Mm -hmm. That's not the case with Winslow court

They are very affordable in that they're subsidized through most of the programs that Pablo mentioned The MHFA the hot program the BRA Things of that nature. So it brings the the unit price of each unit down to an affordable level for the community people in that area you have 24 units 17 below market I What we've done is we've designated 17 of the 24 units for the people of the Roxbury Jamaica Plain Matta Pan in Dorchester area and that's to make sure that people that live in that area Will have the first right of owning a home in that area having rented for quite a long time They're giving the option now to have a piece of ownership within that area You mentioned subsidies And it's something we had talked about earlier on and in a program that was just that's just being talked about now the Name the program for me. wrote it down. Well, we've

been talking about the expiring use restrictions restrictions. Thank you, right? back in the late 60s early 70s a Lot of housing developments were built with federal backing under the 236 program or 221 D3 program these programs carried 40 year mortgages and Below market interest rates and so on and so forth that made it affordable for a developer to rent them to low -income families There is a provision in the terms of their Mortgage contracts that they can prepay their mortgages at the end of 20 years and Therefore satisfy any of their obligations with respect to maintaining the low -income nature of these developments Well needless to say we are approaching year 20 for many of these developments all across the country inclusive of Boston And the fear is that when these mortgages are prepaid that They're going to be a number of families. They're no longer be able to afford to live in these units in other words If I lived in a subs subsidized

unit, it was slated to be taken over or bought by another owner Right now. There's no guarantee that that owner has to carry over the subsidy That is the way that it was and however Recognizing that particular problem Congress has imposed a moratorium that Expires in two years. However, the motor moratorium does apply to these expiring uses so that The property cannot be transferred or cannot be The mortgages cannot be paid off Until some type of system has been put in place The state of Massachusetts has been obviously very concerned about this particular situation and has prepared a plan that it is to Be submitted to the federal government To deal with that particular issue to come up with incentives for developers to not relegate these units into the hands of Developers who don't want

to maintain the low -income major We want to preserve as many of the units as we possibly can so right now everything's at a standstill. It's moratorium, right? Okay, that sounds good as as developers and talking to some people Much more knowledgeable than I they said that there is a there's a tremendous problem with a developer who wants to go in and and Build at full cost and that developer wanting to build low moderate -income affordable housing Talk to me about that for a second problem. What are some of the problems that you find with having to build at full cost? some of the problems that I first encounter were Trying to figure out what is the processing Time for permits and approval that the city would would have because if you are like myself a Small developer

we do not have the upfront monies that are required for you to be able to hold on to the land as well as the interest that you're paying from to the bank and and The state really needs to come up with better written the state and the city with better written information on how Do you go through a process that? spells out what the fees are what the return time would be and And I feel that if they just look at Existing regulations and and would make them more flexible to meet affordable housing needs It would it would do the trick so so essentially what we're talking about is the necessity of people to sort of Ding dong their legislators To change some of the rules that you guys have to live by as developers when one major issue in the minority Development community is the issue of bonding. How do we get bonded when there aren't?

insurance companies that are Geared towards meeting the needs of minority developers Therefore it forces a lot of minority developers to go into joint ventures Because they have to find the partner that could get the bonding since we don't have to work in capital Okay, we've taken the time to step into the audience with some of the number of people who have come and join us Join us tonight to express some of their concerns questions about the housing situation in Roxbury in Dorchester I want to stress that thank you for coming out on a bad night And if you the questions more or less if if questions can't be answered That's not a big problem what we want to try and do is recognize some of the problems some of the difficulties and at least Raise the concerns so so if you hear something that that was not known to you before you can bring it back to your respective areas Colleagues and start working on this stand up for a second for your name. My name is Anthony like her guests and your question I

mean I'm living in a development which the the property Was sold in 1981 and the mortgage was bought out by the owner in 1984 and just two years okay, and He what it was required to file the certain restrictions For in favor of affordability and he did not do it as of today four years later Okay, now he's trying to sell it to to someone and that sale price is going to because of the section a contract is strict restrictive It's gonna end up with a bad debt. This is Westminster. What's the question my question is is that? What do you think You would Your officers will do if this situation arises again And what is your office is willing to do for Westminster Willie in this type of situation? in that particular type of situation we have in the past and will continue to

Negotiate with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Westminster will it is a federally subsidized development. We feel that the federal government Cannot walk away from its responsibility to the residents that live there and We are currently in negotiations with them and will continue to be to work out some kind of solution that will ensure the long -term Low -income nature of that particular development We have some success stories to point to Negotiations with HUD dealing with the situation with the granites for one Has been resolved favorably in fact work is beginning on some of those units now So we don't see that situation as all that different from what we've been able to successfully accomplish And I think that the people that live in Westminster will it should have hope your name Lee I'm President of the granite package three tenants and one of the things I see that the tenants really have to get involved and Make some

decisions on their own as to how they are They're gonna live and one of the things that we've done we developed a tenant management owner agreement that which in the process of negotiating with the new owners because for We live in an about in the development where most of the tenants are not going to be able to afford to buy housing and We are trying to address that issue as that I've been I'm a lifelong renter and I Don't see in the near future. That would be able to buy a house and I think that Really They've they've got to be some on -site kinds of Resolutions to the problems like tenant owner management agreement something other than just laws and legislation passed to put mandates on this and that you know that and And I hope This is something new and I hope that it'll work for us. How about that? How about the outlook for people who?

For one reason or another are not gonna be able to afford housing regardless of maybe a five percent down We're gonna have to rent who would rather work in a co -op situation What's the outlook in that risk in that regard speaking on behalf of the OIC housing development cooperation? They're going to be moving into what is called a phase two Phase two is comprised of 60 rental units that will be going up in the Roxbury area particularly on Dudley Street of Those 60 units 25 % of them will be designated for section 8 Users, so I think that's a good outlook for the future for the rental Community, okay. Thank you very much yet a question. I Wanted to know what do you consider to be low income? What is the what is the amount that you consider to be somebody at local income? I Look, I think that's a very good question because

that's a question. I keep asking myself What is affordable because the term affordable housing keeps going around but In our development for instance Since we're being funded as I said previously through MFHA and the hop program It requires people to make at least $19 ,000 a Family of three to six to make $19 ,000 even though a lot of people in our community might meet Those criterias it does leave a lot of people out. So I feel that you know efforts of people organizing that are living in rental situations, but also I feel that one of the Problems in the community is that we are not Preparing people for home ownership. What do you need to become a homeowner? What are some of the criterias that are being asked by these funding sources? And there should be all kinds of workshops going on in the community because What happens

to us many times is we exclude ourselves from processes that we could Compete and in our development for instance a low -income unit the total carrying cost would be about $450 and there's a lot of people in our community even in public housing that are paying more than $450 Let me stop you right there and and try and Get more on what you just asked the fact that people don't know what it takes to be a homeowner Where can people get that information readily? I think you know a lot of the community based organizations Provide that kind of service or people should go to the state or to the city to Seeing if that kind of service is being provided if not people need to Organize around the issue And make sure that funding is provided to take care of that type of need because it actually is a lot simpler than Then we know could step you had a question very quickly now. I have limited time. Yeah, my name is Antonio Paneche I live in Jamaica Plain. I basically my question is what

can be done about? protect hands against legal evictions Illegal evictions and also what can be done that the funds that we have from the state or from the city or even from the federal government They're really gonna be used for really low or more income housing briefly. We have about 30 seconds one of the things that I'm seeing happening and it needs to continue our Community groups taking charge of their own destiny and that is demanding and Working with the agencies both city state and federal and saying we want a piece of the pie We want it targeted to our areas We want to participate in the dream that all of us have and that's for decent affordable housing And just very quickly I wanted just to add that in most of your communities there are CDC's or community development corporations that Required the input of the community so all of you should really see what

CDC's are servicing your area and making sure that They are beginning to address your needs. Okay run out of time. Thank you very much one Pablo and Patricia for coming and sharing some very vital Information for us and I want to thank you and our studio guests for coming down here this evening and joining us And I hope that the information and issues that we raise this evening will Encourage more families to seek some of the affordable housing options that are available in Boston before we go Here's this week's community calendar and we'll look at next week's show Join us for a special say brothers showcase presentation featuring

Paula Elliott and friends Refresh your heart and soul with the magic of music Don't miss this opportunity to enjoy some of Boston's best jazz artists as they perform your favorites on the next say brother You know we know how our viewers like us to recognize the smaller achievements in life So Cheryl Jones has prepared a bright moment segment that we think will lift your spirits as much as it did ours This young at heart grandmother and mother of two recently celebrated her 100th Anna Marjorie Goldsmith the eldest of ten children was born January 6th 1888 and Raleigh, North Carolina and was raised in Greensboro Her father a former slave with a doctorate from Shaw University Stroke

to protect his family from a lifetime of servitude by insisting. They be well educated We were forced by my father to attend summer school every year. That's what that was a must in our family We couldn't go out to work because he felt that That it was just preparing us to be better Servants after attending college. She married William Goldsmith Todd in his hometown Greenville, South Carolina and then in Atlantic City, New Jersey 20 years later after her husband's death Mrs. Goldsmith moved to Boston so her children could be better educated and she could earn a better living I was Working as a seamstress in several of the smart dress shops and when I

Was known as one of the best fitters in Boston She was so good in fact She opened her own shop right on this very block of Boylston Street where she stayed in business 22 years Your father would have been proud Mrs. Goldsmith happy happy 100 Delightful piece as you know We like hearing from you and it gives us pride to share good news with our viewers when we can and we are proud to announce that Say brother won an Emmy Award recently for a story. We did on vocalist extraordinaire Bobby McFerrin Thanks to all of you for your support That's it for tonight, but remember those cards and letters coming the address is say brother channel to 125 Western Avenue, Boston Oh two one three four But the entire say brother staff and all of us here in studio a how million Francis. Good night everybody

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