Boston University News Service
In a time when affordable housing is scarce, a small Jamaica Plain community has created a model that the City of Boston can replicate. Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), a local community-oriented task force, bought and proposed reconstructing the Blessed Sacrament Church into a space that could double as affordable housing and a community performance space in 2014. Their vision, in collaboration with affordable housing development company Pennrose LLC, will transform this abandoned church by 2027.
The long-standing vacant church will undergo a much-needed transformation. A 55-unit, mixed-income affordable housing development will be erected for the local community. Originally built in 1917, attendance was consistent and even increased in the 80s and 90s, but the decaying structure became too expensive to reconstruct, leading the Catholic Archdiocese to close its doors until the HSTF took ownership in 2004…