Vacant churches in Boston being transformed into affordable senior housing
Some churches in Boston are being transformed to help those who are struggling to find homes.
As attendance at services have dropped, many churches have extra, unused space. One of them is Hill Memorial Baptist Church on North Harvard Street in Allston. It opened back in 1903 and has been vacant since it closed in 2023. The Community Development Corporation in Allston-Brighton plans to turn it into a $48 million community center that will also include 49 units for affordable senior housing.
"Rather than destroy this symbol of the past, [we want to] make it into something usable," said the corporation's executive director John Woods.
"Residents will be able to live here, come home, but also if they need elderly services or any type of community space. We are hopefully having a library, a gym, some meeting rooms for the residents," said project manager Mara Tu.
Construction is set to begin by the end of the year, which could not come at a better time, according to Boston's Age Strong Commissioner Emily Shea. She said the need for affordable senior housing is critical.
"Just at the Boston Housing Authority alone, we have over 11,000 older adults that are currently housed in affordable units. And we have another 10,000 people over the age of 65 on the wait list," Shea said.
The Archdiocese of Boston said they've converted nearly a dozen of their properties into affordable and mixed income homes, including St. Aidan's Church in Brookline.
"When we are having conversations with parishes, with pastors, it's about how can we continue to preserve our legacy of service and help to continue to meet the needs of the community. An effective way to do that is to look at the property and to see how it can be repurposed for affordable mixed-income housing," said Bill Grogan, the President of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs for the Archdiocese.