Washington-Beech

Less than a mile up the road from Roslindale Square in southwest Boston stand several uniform, barracks-style buildings that comprise the Washington-Beech housing project. The roads going in open up to little more than sprawling concrete parking lots and the steam rising from the rooftop vents in the Boston winter adds to the already bleak and gritty image of the nation’s public housing stock. On an afternoon in early January there is little activity at Washington-Beech other than the gathering of a few residents who wait for the bus – perhaps because of the cold, or perhaps because a substantial portion of the residents have recently been moved out. In March of last year, the 57-year-old housing project received a HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This $20 million award assists with the demolition of “severely distressed” public housing and the construction of mixed-income replacements. While the before and after images are striking in the complete aesthetic turnarounds that HOPE VI redevelopment offers, the shift from public housing to mixed-income brings up serious issues. The new Washington-Beech is something of an exception in that it will not have market-rate units and all will be designated as affordable, but there are still several critical issues stirring below the surface, such as resident displacement and whether upgrades in infrastructure and improved management can create a sustainable difference is a housing project that has been the site of increased violence in the past years.

The most successful approach I tried yesterday was to plant myself in the laundromat just across the street from Washington-Beech. When my 7 a.m. efforts to chat up residents at the bus stop were hindered by a lack of people, a lack of buses running on Sunday, and well-below freezing temperatures, I found myself taking refuge inside the much warmer Leisure Laundries and drawn in by the long-winded and passionate accounts of Carmen, who has worked there for the last several years. She spent a good deal of her life living in Columbia Point, formerly one of Boston’s most notorious housing projects, and the first to undergo a mixed-income redevelopment that was something of a precursor to HOPE VI. With many of her customers coming from just across Washington Street, I have found myself with plenty of residents to talk to as the laundry spins.

Carmen gazes at the Washington-Beech housing project through the door of the laundromat where she works. Labeled as “severely distressed” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the project was awarded a $20 million HOPE VI grant in March and will soon be demolished and rebuilt with both public and affordable housing units.

- Alison Coffey