Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Thursday a plan to renovate units at a city-owned affordable housing complex in Jamaica Plain with $50 million from the city's capital budget and federal pandemic relief money.
"These funds will go towards improving plumbing and ventilation, renovating windows, kitchens and bathrooms across 526 units of housing," Wu said to applause from flanks of supporters gathered outside the Mildred C. Hailey apartments.
Wu also signed an executive order directing that all relevant city departments take a role in furthering fair housing goals, including identifying areas for improvement and collecting data to track impacts of existing policies. Departments will be required to report annually on their progress.
The $50 million earmark represents the partial fulfillment of a campaign pledge issued by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization last year to specifically put funds toward the Hailey units and also more broadly make improvements to affordable housing.
The Hailey housing complex, according to the Boston Housing Authority, was constructed between the 1940s and the 1960s and contains slightly more than 750 apartments ranging from one- to six-bedrooms.
The complex has suffered from years of deferred maintenance, a point Yolanda Torres, President of the Mildred C. Hailey Tenant Task Force, raised in remarks after Wu.
"After years and years of less and less federal funding, our apartment is now severely run down and cannot support the well-being of our families," Torres said.
"Our families, especially our children, our elderly and our disabled residents need safe, sanitary quality housing in JP, the diverse and vibrant neighborhood we are proud to call home."
A portion of the investment will need approval from the Boston City Council, which is set to convene its first session of the new term next week.
It is unclear when the renovations can begin. The mayor said the Boston Housing Authority will put out a request for proposals for architectural and engineering services to assess the scope of onsite work "in the coming weeks."
Wu said she plans to make affordable housing "a top priority," when weighing how to spend the rest of Boston's pandemic relief funds.
