ABCDC celebrates accomplishments in aff housing

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

ABCDC celebrates accomplishments in aff housing (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: November 14, 2019)

The Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) celebrated 2019 on Tuesday to the delight of about 60 residents, officials and partners. 

Executive Director John Woods said the list of accomplishments for the group might take a while to go over. 

“Giving me a microphone is sometimes dangerous,” he said. 

Woods started about a year ago and said they’ve been able to keep much of its housing portfolio affordable for residents and they are now looking to build more housing to help keep the dual communities of Allston and Brighton together. 

“They are a community that time and time again has impressed me as I go to the different events and participate in different activities around town,” he said. “Each time I go I’m reminded of what a strong sense of community that exists here, and obviously our goal at the ABCDC is to stand shoulder to shoulder with folks who have already acknowledged the fact that the Allston Brighton community is such a strong community.” 

Manager of Community Building & Engagement Jason Desrosier said he was happy to see so many out to support the group.

“We have elected officials and politicians, activists and advocates, property managers and developers all in the same room and so we’re trying to build those relationships so we can try to make a dent in the affordable housing crisis and just the general housing crisis the city is facing,” he said. 

Desrosier said it was very helpful that the group was able to expand its space for the event to allow more of that networking to take place.

“The attendance has gone up over previous years, but that’s also probably because we have a larger space,” he said. “Over the past few years we’ve been doing it at the Warrior Ice Arena, but the room we had there, the space was kind of limited... Four years ago we were at Swiss Bakers, and it was a great space but it was really lacking in size. We had about 60 people in that really small space and you were rubbing elbows, whether you wanted to or not.” 

Board of Directors President Aida Franquiz said it hasn’t been an easy year, since they had quite a few positions go vacant.  “It has been an extremely successful year for the CDC, and after a year of rebuilding we are now at full staff and full capacity,” she said. “It’s been a pretty awesome year seeing how the AllBright Community Center serves many of the residents in our buildings.” 

She said the group has been able to expand its services throughout the year, but more needs to be done. 

“Our homeownership classes have been full pretty much all year,” she said. “Every month, we have a new sponsor doing classes and teaching our residents and it’s really cool to see how the classes relative to the process of home buying have helped the purchasing of homes here in Allston Brighton. Most importantly, I think we get a lot of people to come to these classes.” 

Resident and advocate (and the night’s auctioneer) Jane McHale said she’s been working with the ABCDC for more than a decade after Harvard purchased swaths of land in Lower Allston. She said the ABCDC has helped to give residents in her neighborhood more leverage and more of a voice in the area’s redevelopment. 

“I didn’t grow up here but I’ve lived here 30 years,” she said, noting that that made her a newcomer in the neighborhood. “I have been kind of fighting for win-win situations when it comes to development, and now it’s just exploding, but the nonprofit CDC is a developer who tries to support affordable housing, which is critical in every neighborhood of Boston. What they do and what advocates do in the neighborhood is amazing and, to me, giving my time here to them is the least I can do.” 

McHale said her husband is also an advocate, and now sits on the Harvard Allston Task Force. 

“I always kid with them that they got two for one,” she said with a laugh. 

Anser Advisory Group Managing Director Tom O’Neil  and Project Manager Dani Garber-Letitia said Anser has been the project manager for two renovations of the Commonwealth Apartments on 1285 Commonwealth Ave., one when the company was first starting out in 1996 and one just two years ago. 

“We’ve done a number of projects with them in the past and it’s wonderful to work with them,” O’Neil said. “They’re a great team, they have a great mission and they do a lot of great work in the neighborhoods. They’ve done a lot of work to stabilize a lot of the rising housing costs in Allston and Brighton.” 

Garber-Letitia said the group is focused on helping non profits and community organizations. “About 85 percent of what we do is working with CDC, public schools K-12, charter schools and higher education,” she said. “It’s really about community driven work.