Mayor Wu Announces Affordable Housing Milestone with Acquisition and Restriction of 1,000 At Risk Housing Units

The Acquisition Opportunity Program supports missions driven developers to acquire and guarantee affordability of the City’s at risk naturally occurring affordable housing

Mayor Michelle Wu today joined the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) and local residents to announce that the City’s Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP) has helped preserve 1,000 homes in Boston. These homes, which are part of Boston’s existing housing stock, were bought with support from the City. Mission-driven developers purchased the properties, keeping the current tenants in place and guaranteeing the homes stay affordable in perpetuity. Today’s milestone follows Mayor Wu’s recent announcement allocating $7 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, with $6 million aimed at helping more than 50 families with down payment assistance, acquisition of market-rate properties to grow the affordable housing stock, and the remaining $1 million for supporting small businesses. This major housing milestone and  recent funding efforts build on the City’s work to make Boston a home for everyone. 

In 2016, AOP launched with an initial goal of supporting the acquisition of 1,000 homes by 2030. The Wu Administration’s historic investment of over $56 million of federal resources into this program accelerated its expansion. Since Mayor Wu took office, the program has acquired almost 400 units and achieved the program’s goal five years ahead of schedule. Properties have been acquired in almost every Boston neighborhood. It has been relied on to stabilize rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of East Boston and Mattapan, and it has preserved precious and limited affordability in neighborhoods such as South Boston, the Fenway, and Bay Village.

"The Acquisition Opportunity Program is a testament to Boston's commitment to ensuring that all residents have access to affordable housing. By helping affordable housing organizations to acquire these properties, we are not only preventing displacement, but also strengthening our communities," said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I am proud that our investments in these properties will continue to provide this housing to working people in Boston.”

"Boston’s Acquisition Opportunity Program has allowed  mission driven developers to compete with private investors in the market," said the Chief of Housing Sheila A. Dillon. "Reaching the 1,000 unit milestone is a testament to the dedication of our development and lending partners and the Wu Administration’s commitment to ending displacement and ensuring that Boston remains a home for everyone."

The AOP is a key part of the City of Boston’s efforts to protect Boston’s rental housing stock, preserve affordability across every neighborhood, and ensure stability for residents and communities over time. The goal of the AOP is to allow affordable housing developers and non-profits to fight displacement by acquiring units in the private market and securing affordable rents for current and future residents for the long term. In an effort to support these organizations' purchasing power in the market, AOP offers zero-interest loans, which help the organizations buy rental properties when they go up for sale. In return, the new owners commit to keep tenants in their homes, limit rent increases, and make sure the homes stay affordable. 

When building owners put their properties up for sale, tenants are often at risk of losing their homes. In Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury, a third of multifamily properties are being purchased by private investors, significantly raising the risk of displacement of the current tenants. To address this, the City has invested $97 million into the AOP program since 2016 when it began as a pilot program. 

“BNCLT’s driving mission is to help low-income residents stay in their homes and neighborhoods by taking properties out of the speculative market to be permanently affordable and community controlled,” said Meredith Levy, Executive Director of the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust. “Our tool is acquisition—the AOP program gives us a vital public funding resource we need to buy buildings on the brink of turnover, staving off the displacement of families and destabilization of neighborhoods for the long term.”

“We want other people to reap the same benefits from AOP because BNCLT was able to buy the building we're now able to stay in our own home,” said Yvette Moore, Resident at an AOP Supported Development. “With all of the work on the building, we know that we can be in a safe, clean building that’s good for our health and that rent will be affordable for the rest of our lives.” 

“Thanks to the City of Boston’s Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP), I’ve been able to extend my reach even further in supporting affordable housing,” said Adler Bernadin, Lavi Investment LLC. “The AOP has been instrumental in allowing me to acquire and stabilize properties that would have otherwise fallen into the hands of private investors, potentially leading to displacement and gentrification. Under my company, Lavi Investment LLC, we’ve acquired and stabilized 45 units, and I’m proud to say that 78% of those units are dedicated to families holding mobile housing vouchers—families well below 60% of the area median income. Some of these families have recently transitioned from living in homeless shelters. For me, this is more than just meeting the requirement of the AOP— it’s about ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our community aren’t forgotten in the face of rising housing costs.”

Through AOP, the City works with over a dozen nonprofit and for-profit organizations focused on affordable housing and community development. From triple-deckers in Dorchester to row houses in Chinatown, AOP partners have worked to ensure that various types of homes across Boston will stay affordable. AOP has been critical in recent major acquisitions of safe, affordable housing and accelerating the City’s efforts for overall affordability across Boston’s neighborhoods, seen with the City and East Boston Community Development Corporation acquiring a 36 multi-family building, 114-unit housing portfolio in 2022.

“Affordable housing has become a crisis in East Boston.  AOP has been the only program that has been able to move nimbly and quickly to respond to this crisis,” said Sal Colombo, Executive Director of East Boston CDC. “We’ve used the program to acquire over 150 units off the speculative market, allowing families to remain in their homes, but this time with the security that they will pay stable rents, without dramatic increases or threat of eviction.  The AOP program has been essential to helping stabilize our neighborhood, and we hope it will continue to play a role in neighborhood stabilization for the long term in Boston.”

“City and state governments around the country should learn from our success here in Boston,” said Mike Leyba, Co-Executive Director of City Life/Vida Urbana. “New development of affordable housing is urgent, but we must also preserve the affordable housing we have and keep families housed in their current homes. This milestone of 1,000 units means stable homes for 1,000 families. Thousands of working people, elders, and children will be able to thrive in place due to the foresight, vision and organizing of our communities.”

The City of Boston will continue to expand the Acquisition Opportunity Program, with a goal of preserving more than 350 additional units of affordable housing by the end of 2026. The program will also focus on increasing community engagement and exploring innovative financing models to support its mission. For more information about the Acquisition Opportunity Program and its accomplishments, please visit our website.