Boston Housing Committee Advances $29 Million in Federal HUD Grants to Full Council

BOSTON — April 13, 2023 — Boston's housing committee moves $29 million in federal HUD grants toward a full Council vote. The City Council's Committee on Housing and Community Development held a hearing April 13 on four annual U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development entitlement grants totaling just over $29 million for fiscal year 2024 — a 1.6 percent increase over the prior year. Committee Chair Kendra Lara, District 6, said she plans to report all four dockets favorably to the full Council at its next meeting. Deputy Director Rick Wilson of the Mayor's Office of Housing told the committee the grants fund programs ranging from the Pine Street Inn street outreach, running nightly since 1986, to down payment assistance and affordable housing construction loans. Wilson warned the city's Community Development Block Grant allocation — $17.5 million of the total — is at or near its federal cap for public service spending, limiting the city's ability to add fair housing investigators. In 2022, city home repair programs served 650 homeowners using these funds.