34 East Springfield St., in Boston's South End, was converted into permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless veterans.
BHA Administrator Kenzie Bok said the housing authority originally thought it would just sell the property on the open market and walk away, because it would be so expensive to repair. But officials wanted"viscerally" for veterans to be able to obtain affordable housing in a neighborhood rich in amenities that might otherwise be out of reach for them financially, she said.
Army veteran Marissa Troupe, 29, is one of the tenants. She was homeless for months last year after a problem with a roommate."I moved into my car and then had to get rid of it shortly after because of mechanical issues," Troupe said. A change the BHA made several years ago, under a HUD rule change — to have housing vouchers align with the median income for the specific zip code in which the housing is located, as opposed to the median income for the region — helped make the project possible, Bok said.