Quincy Heights, a 129-unit low-income housing development that opened this week in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, could be a model for cities across the country, according to U.S. Housing Secretary Julián Castro.
The nearby dilapidated former Pearl Meats factory was included in renovation work and turned into a 35,000-square-foot food production facility. Fifty businesses share the space, including food trucks, which, Castro said, lends an air of entrepreneurialism to the area.
“It is a blueprint that a lot of cities can benefit from, show other communities how they can do what Boston has done,” Castro said.
According to Boston radio station WBUR, Castro noted that the development is the first finished project in HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program. Boston was picked to receive funds through the initiative in 2011, and the federal government put $20.5 million into Quincy Heights.
According to WBUR:
“Quincy Heights was able to leverage an additional $36 million to get it done,” said Daryl Wright, with the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation. He says much of the construction work was completed by minority-owned businesses.
#Boston's newest housing development is about more than just housing: http://t.co/mMGRiOZf4X pic.twitter.com/QJqDzThuTQ
— WBUR (@WBUR) July 8, 2015Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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