BOSTON – Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh joined the East Boston Community Development Corporation, residents and elected officials to celebrate the grand opening of Paris Village, an energy-efficient and affordable residential community that features 32 apartments for working families in East Boston.
The new apartment building is located on the formerly vacant Salesian Boys & Girls Club site on Paris Street.
“As demand for housing is increasing in East Boston and throughout the City, we’re using all kinds of tools and resources to build new housing,” said Mayor Walsh. “We’ll continue to keep affordability at the heart of our work to make sure people can continue to live and work in the communities they love. I want to thank our many partners for making Paris Village possible, allowing new generations to live and raise their families here.”
Paris Village has 21 two-bedroom and 11 three-bedroom family units, an elevator for accessibility, central air, on-site laundry facility, a large community space for programming for residents on the ground floor, a rear courtyard and playground with a play structure for children. It is located in one of Boston’s fastest growing neighborhoods, near the newly renovated Boston Centers for Youth & Families Paris Street community center, restaurants, and a variety of arts, cultural and outdoor amenities and activities.
“We are extremely grateful to Mayor Walsh for providing and supporting the programs and resources needed to rescue families from homeless shelters and to provide affordable housing for families struggling with increasing rental costs,” said Albert Caldarelli, president and executive director of the East Boston Community Development Corporation.
In accordance with the City of Boston’s Green Affordable HousingProgram, Paris Village utilizes high-efficiency heating and cooling systems as well as Energy Star rated appliances and environmentally friendly design features. The building earned the distinction of being LEED-Homes “Silver” certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The development also met the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standards.
Paris Village has been made possible because of funding from the City of Boston, in part from funds secured by the Boston Planning & Development Agency from private, market rate developments (the Inclusionary Development Policy Fund and the Neighborhood Housing Trust/Linkage Funds), as well as funds from the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and construction and permanent loans from Citizens Bank.
This grand opening builds on the release of Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030, Boston’s latest quarterly housing report, and the City’s overall housing goal of 69,000 new units by 2030, to meet Boston’s faster than expected population growth. These 69,000 new units include 15,820 new income-restricted units, which would elevate Boston’s income-restricted inventory total to 70,000, or one in five of all housing units. In addition, the plan set a goal to preserve 85 percent of Boston’s most at-risk privately-owned affordable units, and to purchase 1,000 units of rental housing stock from the speculative market and income-restrict them for perpetuity.
Mayor Walsh’s 2019 housing security legislative package focuses on expanding upon the work that Boston has done to address the region’s affordable housing crisis and displacement risks for tenants. The housing security bills proposed seek to help existing tenants, particularly older adults, remain in their homes, and creates additional funding for affordable housing
