The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) will provide $90 million towards rehabilitating and preserving affordability at two 30-year-old the Boston apartment complexes that serve primarily people with disabilities, low-income and senior residents. The project is part of HIT’s National Construction Jobs Initiative and the AFL-CIO’s Green Jobs Initiative. 

The rehabilitation will improve accessibility, energy efficiency, bring the apartments up to new code standards and add another 20 years of life to the 338 units of affordable housing.

The project is also expected to create about 150 union construction jobs for local workers.  Martin J. Walsh, Secretary-Treasurer of the Boston Metropolitan District Building and Construction Trades Council says:

It's good to see union pension capital being invested in these projects that are going to create family-supporting jobs for our members while also preserving low-cost housing that our community needs.

HIT is working with  MassHousing and Tom O'Malley, director of the HIT's New England regional office,  on the $148 million project. O’Malley says the project “reflects our long-time commitment to working with MassHousing to finance quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families in Massachusetts.”

The renovation work includes exterior and interior repairs and upgrades as well as improvements to reduce the buildings' environmental impact, including additional insulation, new windows and more energy-efficient systems.  These measures support the HIT's broader commitment to create green jobs by financing projects that conserve energy and reduce buildings' operating costs. 

The projects are the latest of seven Boston projects that the HIT has helped finance under its Construction Jobs Initiative, creating more than 1,900 union construction jobs in the city and more than 13,500 jobs nationally to help keep union members working at a time of high unemployment in the construction industry.