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It’s time for Boston to demolish the stigma of public housing – The Boston Globe
In Vienna, well-maintained public housing complexes are distributed across the city’s neighborhoods and come with amenities like gyms, schools, and even shopping centers. Far from being places to avoid, these complexes housed more than 60 percent of the city’s 1.8 million residents in 2022.
The Viennese call such housing “social,” to reflect its broad usage — nearly 75 percent of the city’s residents qualify for it. This means that a supermarket cashier and a software developer can be neighbors, with each paying less than 30 percent of their income in rent. In Boston, only households making 80 percent or less of the city’s median income are eligible for Boston’s scant 17 percent of subsidized housing.
Vienna-style housing in America: Dream or delusion?
When I returned home and breathlessly told my friends and colleagues about Vienna’s successful approach to public housing, I saw apprehension in their faces and got tepid responses. They seemed concerned, the way you might be for someone who’d clearly gone down a rabbit hole of delusion. On a couple of occasions, people expressed their skepticism. “Yeah, that all sounds really nice,” they’d begin. “But dude, that’s never gonna happen in America. Come on.”
Recent history is on their side. Greater Boston rent prices shot even higher into the stratosphere during the second year of the pandemic. The idea of bringing Vienna-style social housing here just seemed increasingly fanciful. But around that time, I noticed something that gave me hope. More journalists than ever were going to Vienna to write about its excellent public housing system, and US policy makers were taking note, too.
These Vienna stories heralded optimism. “Lessons From a Renters’ Utopia,” a headline in The New York Times offered. “How Vienna became the world’s most livable city,” the Guardian gushed. And as an explainer for Shelterforce, a nonprofit publication dedicated to reporting on affordable housing, Hawaii state Senator Stanley Chang and San Francisco assembly member Alex Lee published “How We Can Bring Vienna’s Housing Model to the US.”
Now, after years of affordable housing scarcity and a pessimistic outlook on what solutions are possible, it seems that more lawmakers are willing to think big about housing policy.
In September, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that the city would commit $100 million to a Housing Accelerator Fund, a reserve for kickstarting new housing projects that have run into financing obstacles. The housing accelerator will make it possible for the city to start acting like a real estate investor and directly subsidize public and private housing developments with infusions of cash.
The fund also presents an opportunity for Boston to finance modern, mixed-income public housing like the kind I saw in Vienna. One outspoken supporter of the idea is Boston City Councilor at Large Henry Santana, who spent his childhood in the Boston Housing Authority’s Alice Taylor Apartments in Mission Hill.
“Public housing gave my family a foundation with which to thrive,” Santana said on Oct. 17 at a working group session at Boston City Hall where councilors discussed mixed-income social housing. “I’m passionate about this kind of housing because it can help break down racial and social divides which have shaped our neighborhoods,” Santana added.
But as I took my seat on the sidelines of the meeting room beneath a portrait of James Michael Curley — whose last mayoral term coincided with the start of the “urban renewal” era that saw millions of public housing units razed in Boston — the guests I was most interested in hearing from were officials from Maryland’s Montgomery County. Thanks to them, we no longer have to talk about mixed-income social housing solely as a Viennese import.
Maryland is leading the way on social housing
In Montgomery County, modern, dignified social housing for a wide spectrum of incomes is becoming part of a new normal.
With its own fund, the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC) hired developers to build The Laureate, a 268-unit complex in Rockville with public transit access, a pool, and a gym. A quarter of the apartments are set aside for households making less than 50 percent of the area’s median income — about $76,450 or less for a family of four.
The building is fully owned by the city, setting it apart from most affordable housing projects, in which a fixed number of below-market apartments are baked into a building plan with the help of low-income housing tax credits. In Montgomery County, it’s as if policymakers asked, “What if we got into the business of housing development ourselves?”
The HOC works because it is a revolving fund, meaning the HOC lends developers housing accelerator money to fund the construction of a building, with substantially lower interest rates than they would get from private lenders. Once the building’s units have been leased to tenants, the HOC refinances the project, takes a majority stake in the project to establish municipal ownership, and pays itself back for the initial loan. With the housing funds replenished and the HOC having collected interest from the developers, the HOC is better able to fund more mixed-income public housing. Montgomery County Council member Andrew Friedson says, “The Montgomery County housing fund started with $50 million and now it’s $100 million. This is one of the most cost-effective ways to create housing.”
With that formula for financing mixed-income social housing, more cities and states are warming to the idea. City officials in Atlanta and state officials in Rhode Island have announced plans to form their own public development bodies, and Boston’s housing accelerator fund is a step in the same direction.
On Nov. 19, Mayor Wu announced that the first local project to receive housing accelerator financing will be Bunker Hill Housing, the Boston Housing Authority housing complex in Charlestown. A public-private partnership between the BHA and Bunker Hill Redevelopment Company, the project will result in 15 new residential buildings with a total of 2,699 apartments. More than 1,000 of these apartments — about the same number that made up the original complex at Bunker Hill — will remain deeply affordable, meaning their occupants will spend no more than 30 percent of their income on housing regardless of their income. But apartments in the old complex were exclusively available to low-income renters, while the new buildings will have a mix of rents, including for market-rate units.
Santana thinks this approach will yield dividends for the community. “In the United States, public housing has been traditionally viewed as this last resort for low-income families,” Santana says. “The stigma of public housing is tied to disinvestment and neglect. When you drive across the city and you pass a public housing structure, you know it’s public housing.”
Does Santana see a substantive difference between the terms “public housing” and “social housing”? “I think that ‘social housing’ reflects the philosophy that housing really should be a collective responsibility,” Santana says. “The term helps us reposition housing as a public good, rather than a commodity.”
Although that may be a tough sales pitch, Santana believes people are becoming more open to bolder interventions. “What I’m hearing constituents asking for, in all Boston neighborhoods, are options that provide stability; not just temporary fixes,” Santana says.
Today, when you arrive at 55 Bunker Hill Street — where the old BHA complex still exists, waiting to be knocked down, reimagined, and rebuilt — you’ll see a bunch of two- and three-story brick buildings that have clearly seen better days. They are weathered, their design dated and dour. The demarcation is clear: This is public housing, and that — the freshly painted buildings across the street — is private housing. But now, with the housing accelerator fund catalyzing an overdue renovation and expansion of the BHA property, that line is about to blur.
If Boston’s housing accelerator makes more projects like the Bunker Hill redevelopment possible, we might have a tougher time spotting the difference.
Miles Howard is a freelance writer in Boston and the founder of the Walking City Trail. He publishes the weekly hiking newsletter Mind the Moss.
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Born and raised in Southie, Heather Foley has seen her neighborhood morph over the past three decades of scrubbing, renovation, and new construction for higher-income new arrivals.
But even Foley was surprised to discover that her South Boston, where kids once went to the corner to buy milk and cigarettes for parents, has emerged with the city’s second-highest average income, even ahead of Charlestown and Beacon Hill.
Her first thought?: “I gotta start being nicer to my neighbors if that’s the kind of money they’re making.”
What’s a household?
Decades ago, when “Good Will Hunting” was filmed in the neighborhood and Southie was known as a working-class area, there were more kids around and maybe just a single breadwinner in some homes.
Since then, Southie saw more two-earner households, fewer kids, and spiffier rental units where three or four roommates could contribute to a “household.” The changes, along with spillover from the adjacent, pricier Seaport, or South Boston waterfront, are factors in Census data showing more than 40 percent of Southie households earn more than $200,000 a year.
Staying put
Foley, 46, a photo shoot producer, considers herself lucky. She didn’t move out to the South Shore like many neighborhood longtimers. She’s living in a family home on a block with residents — oldtimers and newer arrivals — who aren’t flipping properties for big bucks.
Another blessing, particularly valuable this winter? She has a driveway.
As a kid, she went to church and school at Gate of Heaven, St. Brigid, and St. Peter, and jokes that she’s “so sad I didn’t buy a three-decker with my First Communion money, because I probably could have.”
Waves of gentrification
She remembers the earlier waves of newcomers, when glassy sports bars like Stats Bar & Grille muscled in among longtime restaurants like Amrheins.
But now, even the popular Stats is moving out at the end of the month. The property owner is developing a five-story, mixed-use residential building at the site.
A small silver lining
Foley notes that some of the onetime “newcomers” have been here for three decades — and in some ways, have stabilized the place. Many have raised kids, who, like her son, may return to the neighborhood as young adults (albeit splitting a rented apartment with friends). Stats, the sports bar, says it will also return to the neighborhood’s thriving food scene.
“We have a lot of great restaurants now,” Foley says, “and everyone cleans up after their dog.”
Read: These maps show Boston’s wealthiest and most populous neighborhoods — plus other key trends.
🧩 6 Across: More scarce | 🌧️ 42° Another storm
Grand New Party: How do you build a statewide slate of Republicans in a Democratic state? Nearly half of the Mass. GOP candidates didn’t use to be Republicans.
Farewell advice: After nearly 15 years of health system leadership, the departing CEO of Beth Israel Lahey Health offers this advice to others.
Hitting the brakes? After an ambitious state law, Lexington welcomed a wave of new housing. Now, people there are having second thoughts.
Hyde Park fatal bus crash: The driver has been indicted.
Patriots, strippers, and hookahs: A downtown restaurant’s liquor license is in jeopardy after it allegedly hosted Patriots players and guests after their AFC Championship in January. A decision is expected today.
‘Culture of secrecy’: In a scathing report, R.I. authorities accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence of decades of “inaction, concealment, and revictimization” in complaints of clergy sexual abuse of hundreds of children.
Centers of suffering, campaigning: Federal immigration facilities have become backdrops for Democratic politicians seeking to fight President Trump’s immigration policies.
‘The best time to remember God’: Amid crackdowns, the Somali community leans into faith during Ramadan.
When is a reno worth it? Here’s how to judge the return on a home investment.
🧸 ‘Ted’ talk: Seth MacFarlane and the “Ted” cast talk Massholes, potty-mouthed teddy bears, and why Boston may have “the worst accent”
🩰 A ‘Black Swan’ premiere: That’s among 30 sparkling arts events happening this spring around New England. Plus, why are more artists being banned from America?
🎥 Quiz: Test yourself with the Globe’s Academy Awards quiz.
⚽ Will $7.8 million stop the World Cup from coming here? Can Foxborough’s insistence on up-front security payments force the world’s soccer governing body to send matches somewhere else this summer?
♯ Teenage dreams: The future rock stars were teenagers when they wrote songs, influenced by David Bowie and Stevie Wonder, about a fictional nightclub. A half-century later, Squeeze has reworked and is releasing those songs.
💻 Death by chatbot? A new lawsuit alleges Google’s chatbot sent a man on missions to find an android body it could inhabit. When that failed, it set a suicide countdown clock for him. (WSJ)
🍕 And a red cup, please: Fans are tracking down the few Pizza Hut Classic red-roofed restaurants that remain in the 6,200-store chain. (NYT)
Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by Heather Ciras and produced by Ryan Orlecki.
❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at startingpoint@globe.com.
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Dave Beard can be reached at dave.beard@gmail.com. Follow him on X @dabeard.
Boston, MA
Each mile is for her miracle: This Granby mom is running the Boston Marathon with her daughter in mind
Boston Marathon
“With every mile I run, I will be thinking of her strength, her transplant journey, and the families who are walking similar paths right now.”
Brianna Poehler
In our “Why I’m Running” series, Boston Marathon athletes share what’s inspiring them to make the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Looking for more race day content? Sign up for Boston.com’s pop-up Boston Marathon newsletter.
Name: Brianna Poehler
City/State: Granby, Mass.
I am running the 2026 Boston Marathon with Miles for Miracles in support of Boston Children’s Hospital. The Boston Marathon is deeply personal to me and my family.
My daughter is a liver transplant survivor, and at just 11 months old, she received a life-saving liver transplant at Boston Children’s Hospital.
What could have been the most devastating chapter of our lives became a story of hope, resilience, and extraordinary care because of the BCH team.
When our daughter was so small and so sick, the doctors, nurses, and staff at Boston Children’s carried us through the unimaginable.
They combined world-class medical expertise with compassion that went far beyond treatment plans and hospital rooms. They cared for our daughter as if she were their own. They supported us as anxious, exhausted parents. They gave us answers when we had questions, and reassurance when we were overwhelmed.
Most importantly, they gave our daughter a second chance at life.
Today, she is thriving because of that gift. Every milestone she reaches is a reminder of the miracle she received and the team that made it possible. Running the Boston Marathon is my way of honoring that gift and saying thank you in the most meaningful way I can.
The marathon is a test of endurance, determination, and heart — qualities I saw in my daughter during her fight and in the Boston Children’s team every single day.
With every mile I run, I will be thinking of her strength, her transplant journey, and the families who are walking similar paths right now.
By running with Miles for Miracles, I hope to raise funds that will support groundbreaking research, life-saving treatments, and compassionate care for children like my daughter. This race is more than 26.2 miles — it is a celebration of survival, gratitude, and hope.
Editor’s note: This entry may have been lightly edited for clarity or grammar.
Charlotte Hornets (31-31, ninth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Boston Celtics (41-20, second in the Eastern Conference)
Boston; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Celtics -6.5; over/under is 214.5
BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte is looking to keep its five-game win streak alive when the Hornets take on Boston.
The Celtics are 27-13 against Eastern Conference opponents. Boston is sixth in the NBA with 46.2 rebounds led by Nikola Vucevic averaging 8.8.
The Hornets are 19-21 in conference matchups. Charlotte is 7-8 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 15.0 turnovers per game.
The Celtics average 15.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.7 more made shots on average than the 12.8 per game the Hornets allow. The Hornets average 16.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.1 more made shots on average than the 13.9 per game the Celtics allow.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jaylen Brown is averaging 29 points, 7.1 rebounds and five assists for the Celtics. Payton Pritchard is averaging 17 points and 5.8 assists over the past 10 games.
Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 22.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Celtics: 8-2, averaging 109.4 points, 50.7 rebounds, 27.1 assists, 6.1 steals and 6.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 98.5 points per game.
Hornets: 7-3, averaging 117.3 points, 47.8 rebounds, 27.4 assists, 8.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 106.2 points.
INJURIES: Celtics: Jayson Tatum: out (achilles), Neemias Queta: day to day (rest).
Hornets: Coby White: day to day (injury management).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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