Old South Church, Boston Properties reach agreement on housing & preservation

We are grateful to the Mayor and the City of Boston staff for taking the long view in this agreement for the Back Bay/South End Gateway Project. Progress and preservation need not be a zero sum game. Development and affordable housing need not be at odds. We must have all of these for Boston to be a vibrant and merciful city. And so we are glad that there will be $6 million more devoted to affordable housing and preservation.

But more than that, The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (with Old South’s strong leadership) has secured an on-going relationship with the City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Team. GBIO now has a seat at that table going forward in developing programs for affordable homeownership. Economically speaking, it is homeownership, or the lack thereof, that so separates white from black, rich from poor in Boston. Homeownership for lower and middle-income families, the chance to build equity is a key to a family’s chance to climb out of poverty. For Boston to be a great city, it has to be a place where everyone can get ahead. This is just the beginning but it is an exciting beginning.

- Revs. Nancy Taylor and John Edgerton, Old South Church

Read Back Bay developer to pay $3m for casting shadows over churches via The Boston Globe