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Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Phone: (617) 287 5550
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| City Will Get 19 Affordable Units |
Author(s):
Angelica Medaglia, Globe Staff Correspondent
Source(s):
Boston Globe, July 28, 2002, Page: 1 Section: Globe North
Date: July 28, 2002
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With a $4 million apartment construction project, it is a timely moment for Tri-City Task Force for
Homeless Families, Inc. to condense its name to Tri-City Family Housing.
"Task force implies that we are here temporarily," said director Judy Perlman. "But after 16 years
of working to end homelessness, it feels more like an organization than a task force." Tri-City has
served as an emergency shelter unit for the state most of those 16 years. It currently offers 50
units of temporary housing in Revere, Malden, and surrounding areas. And it will become one of the
few organizations in Massachusetts to offer permanent housing to 19 families in need.
For its largest and latest project, Tri-City is building three apartment buildings for permanent
housing on Cross Street and has received enough financial backing from the state, a private
developer, and the city.
The nonprofit group has received a $4 million package from the state, including grants and tax
breaks. Advocates say this is a rarity at a time when legislators are cutting programs for homeless
families even as the number of families needing shelter is increasing.
"It's not happening nearly enough that any organization is building housing targeted to families
with the lowest income," said Mary Doyle, director of Homes for Families, a nonprofit group that
monitors homelessness.
The Cross Street buildings will be permanent Section 8 apartments for families living in shelters
or in apartments run by shelters.
"This is not just providing housing but also programs for the people who will be living in these
units," said Chris Simonelli, a city councilor who backed the project. "The bottom line is, how
many opportunities do you have to help 19 families?"
According to the state's Department of Transitional Assistance records, the number of families
ending up in a shelter has risen 67 percent in Massachusetts since 1999. There are at least 1,400
families staying overnight in a shelter. Of those, some 400 are placed in hotels.
But those figures do not account for the number of families wanting to enter a shelter that do
not meet a designated poverty level, Doyle said.
A study conducted by the McCormack Institute at the University of Massachusetts shows that in
2000 some 35,000 families and individuals were homeless in the state.
"To us, the demand always looks flat because we are always full," said Perlman. "We get calls
everyday from people saying, 'I'm homeless' . . .and we refer them to the state."
Perlman said the project was guided through the planning stages by Ann Slattery, the group's
former director, who died of cancer last month. Slattery had contacted longtime friend Jim Keefe,
president of Trinity Financial, a Boston firm that manages affordable housing developments, to
manage the building.
Trinity Financial is now managing the budget and will seek bids from corporate investors who
would own the properties and receive 10-year tax breaks under the state's affordable housing
program. The North Suburban HOME Consortium has given the group $750,000 in federal housing
funds and $500,000 will come from state affordable housing funds.
"We have a gap of about $500,000," said Jim Hexter, the Trinity consultant planning the project.
"But we have sources to cover $400,000 of that."
That money will go toward building an office for members of the organization and space to run
programs for tenants. A Tri-City staff member will live on-site.
Melissa Smith, who lived in a Tri-City shelter two years ago, said the importance of permanent
housing for a family is the start of independence.
Smith said it took a year to find an apartment under the Section 8 program. This was her key to
starting a new life after living for three years in shelters with her three daughters.
"I didn't know what they were going to give me and if I refused that [the Section 8 choices],
I knew I would have to stay in the shelter another year. It is still hard. All my money goes
toward the rent and I still feel guilty when I buy something for myself."
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