Juan Luis Calderon arrived in Boston from Puerto Rico back in 1979. “That’s the same year that Larry Joe Bird arrived in Boston,” he said. “And I immediately fell in love with it and began my life.”
At a Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony for the city’s largest permanent supportive housing project, Calderon shared his journey from living unhoused on the streets of Boston to now being one of the first residents at 3368 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain.
“Like many men who go through divorce, I was left alone, without a family and with no support system or place to live,” Calderon said to an audience that included Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu and other city officials. “I was staying temporarily with friends and even homeless for periods, living in my car more than once.”
The project, which broke ground in January 2022, provides 202 affordable homes — 140 units for individuals formerly experiencing homelessness — and 62 units for households who earn between 60-80% of area median income. The building is named “The Lyndia” as a tribute to Pine Street Inn President and Chief Executive Officer Lyndia Downie, who has spent her 40-year career at Pine Street serving Boston’s unhoused community.
“I am so humbled by this and grateful, but also a little bit mortified because everybody in this room knows there could be so many names on this building, so many names, because this is a community effort,” Downie said in her remarks.
The city of Boston provided $17.3 million to the project after Pine Street Inn purchased the one-story warehouse site on Washington Street in 1997. In 2015, Pine Street partnered with Bart Mitchell, CEO of The Community Builders, and conceived the vision for a large-scale supportive housing development. The project was delayed over the years amid an ongoing lawsuit challenging its zoning.
Wu said these projects and partnerships are paramount to helping people find homes.
“We are going to make sure that Boston continues to push forward to be a home for everyone,” she said. “All of us are going to continue relentlessly to find new ways to solve the housing crisis.”
Pine Street Inn staff will provide support services, including onsite mental health counseling, to individuals who have moved out of homelessness and into the building. The five-story building, designed by RODE Architects, includes more than 13,000 square feet of community space, laundry facilities on each floor, social gathering spaces, outdoor space, high speed internet and a library.
Michael Montanino, a new resident at The Lyndia, told GBH News he struggled with alcoholism for years as a young adult and ended up living on the streets for 520 days. He says he tried to secure work but could never land a position with stability. “I was first connected with Pine Street through their outreach team.” He says a case worker there helped him turn things around. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here. He helped me apply to live in the building and eventually signed the lease and moved me straight from the street into a home.”
Montanino says he is now involved at a local church, volunteering at a food justice program and just landed a city job as a crossing guard supervisor. He’s already setting a long-term goal to return to college and earn a degree.
“Being homeless is like climbing Mount Everest. You know that you have to keep moving forward, but each step becomes more difficult,” he said. “For those who are experiencing homelessness, stay positive. Ask for help. Keep climbing.”
Full occupancy is expected by June of this year. Pine Street Inn and The Community Builders are collaborating on a similar project at 900 Morrissey Blvd. in Dorchester , which is currently under construction.
