Design and Construction Report staff writer
More than $16 million in state, city and federal funding will support modernization of the Fairmount public housing community in Hyde Park, including apartment renovations, accessibility improvements, electrified heating and hot water systems, and stormwater infrastructure.
The funding includes a $10-million High Leverage Asset Preservation Program grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, $5 million in City of Boston capital funding and $1 million in federal Community Project Funding secured by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren.
The Boston Public Health Commission has also provided funding for open space improvements and community gardens.
The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) is launching a master planning process to develop a long-term vision for Fairmount while beginning the first phase of physical improvements.
Initial upgrades will include modernizing apartment interiors, making five per cent of units fully accessible, electrifying heating and hot water systems, and adding cooling. The work will also include building envelope improvements and green stormwater infrastructure to improve climate resilience.
The project is part of a broader effort to preserve and modernize Boston’s existing public housing. The city has built nearly 16,000 new housing units over the past five years, according to the mayor’s office.
Additional federal funding secured by the congressional delegation will support flood mitigation at affordable housing developments, including BHA properties.
The city and BHA have collaborated on stormwater projects serving the Fairmount, Gallivan and Franklin Field communities. The work will include a community garden and new rain gardens designed to reduce stormwater pollution and help prevent flooding.
Through Boston’s PowerCorps program, local residents will receive training in building and maintaining rain gardens while earning credentials for green careers.
