[act-ma] 3/14 - March & Rally to Keep Affordable Housing in Fenway (Mon)

[Sarah Horsley]

Keep Fenway Affordable! Demand long-term affordability at Burbank
Apartments!

March, Rally & Public Hearing 
Monday, March 14, 2011 

2:45pm MARCH - gather at Edgerly Road playground, corner of Edgerly Rd. &
Haviland St.

3:30 pm RALLY and 4:00 pm HEARING 
at Susan Bailis Assisted Living Community, 352 Massachusetts Ave. at St.
Botolph St.
(across the street from Mass. Ave. Orange Line MBTA stop)

The Keep Fenway Affordable! Campaign is brought to you by the Burbank
Apartments Tenant Association & Fenway Community Development Corporation. 

For more information, go to http://www.fenwaycdc.org  
or contact: Sarah at mailto:shorsley at fenwaycdc.org  or 617 267 4637 x19

Background:

The Fenway could lose nearly 10% of its affordable housing.  Burbank
Apartments is a set of East Fenway buildings with 173 affordable units which
have long been affordable to low-income and working families.  However, the
owners (William and Robert Kargman) want to opt out of federal subsidy
programs and convert the units to market-rate at the end of March 2011.  The
owners’ decision affects not only current tenants, but also potential Fenway
residents.  Thousands of people will no longer be able to afford to live in
this neighborhood that has access to economic, educational, transit, and
cultural resources.  People of color will be disproportionately affected.

But tenants and their neighbors are fighting back! Tenants formed the
Burbank Apartments Tenants Association (BATA) in March 2010 in an effort to
save their homes.  BATA calls on the owners to 1) renew the project-based
Section 8 contract and 2) work with HUD to keep the rents in the non-Section
8 units affordable for low- and moderate-income tenants for the long term. 

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Can’t join us on the 14th?  Want to help out before then?

Call the owners now to demand that they preserve long-term affordability!

Owners’ Contact Info: 
William and Robert Kargman, First Realty Management, 151 Tremont Street
(617) 423-7000 

Here is some info to know for your phone call:
• BATA, the Fenway CDC, and hundreds of concerned community members across
the city want the Kargmans to preserve the long-term affordability at
Burbank Apartments.  Specifically, we would like the owners to:
o renew the project-based Section 8 contract for as long as possible
(ideally twenty years); 
o work with HUD and other agencies to keep the rents in the non-Section 8
units affordable for low and moderate income residents, for the long-term.

Don’t be fooled! Enhanced Vouchers DO NOT adequately preserve LONG-TERM
affordability
If the owners opt out, some protections for eligible existing tenants will
be offered, called “enhanced vouchers,” but there are significant
limitations to these. For example, enhanced vouchers are more vulnerable
than the current project-based subsidies to government budget cutting.  Most
importantly, the apartments themselves will no longer be subsidized, so
long-term affordability will be gone.  Once a current tenant moves out, the
affordability is lost – forever.  The bottom line is - if the owners’
proposed changes go through, current tenants will face new risks, and future
moderate- and low-income renters will be priced out of the Fenway.  

3 reasons why the Kargmans should maintain long-term affordability 
(1) The owners’ decision affects not only current tenants, but also
thousands of potential Fenway residents, who will no longer be able to
afford to live in the Fenway.
(2) The owners can maintain affordability and still get full profits through
the “Mark Up to Market” program offered by the federal government (HUD). 
(3) The owners have benefited from public money and community investment
since the HUD mortgage began in 1970. It is only fair for the Kargmans to
consider the best interests of the community.  

There is wide ranging support for keeping long-term affordability at Burbank

The Burbank Apartments Tenant Association (BATA) has won strong support from
federal, state, and local elected officials, community groups, tenants, and
neighbors.  We have now delivered to the Kargmans petition signatures from a
large majority of tenants and over 350 community members.  In addition, we
have delivered over 2 dozen letters of support from Boston organizations,
including the YMCA and the Archdiocese of Boston Planning Office of Urban
Affairs.