It wasn't quick and it wasn't easy, but it definitely was worth it: "I was a young lady with a toddler, now I am a middle-aged women with a college graduate," said Beverly Lipinski, a fifth generation resident of the Linden Street neighborhood in Somerville, MA. But she said that thanks to a new 42-unit affordable housing-homeownership project being built there, "we have our neighborhood back."

"I started working with two mayors back, and three aldermen back on redevelopment of Ward 2," she said at the development's ground breaking ceremony late last year. "We first started almost twenty years ago, when we envisioned changes and what we could do to beautify our neighborhood. But they always told us our time will come, and today is our day for the Linden Street residents. And it certainly has been worth the wait."

Linden St. Development Project Model

Mayor Kelly Gay called the project "extraordinary - particularly, when every other neighborhood in the city is fighting us tooth and nail. This (Linden and Allen Streets) neighborhood has welcomed us in and wanted to be a part of this development. I think that says an awful lot about the people in this neighborhood (and) what can be done when people sit at the table, and learn the art of compromise. Because that's what happened here," and can happen elsewhere in the city, she added.

Jubilant SCC board members and staff

The Linden Street project is by far the largest housing development project for the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) in at least 15 years, Chief Executive Officer Danny LeBlanc said. SCC staff and many partners worked for years to make the project possible, and Vice President of SCC's Board of Directors Fred Burman paid them tribute: "This project would not have happened without Mayor Gay's support and the huge financial support from the city, as well as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and a lot of other funders�but without the support of the Linden Street community, this project wouldn't have happened."

The 42 units of housing will replace approximately 40 units of housing that were lost over the years. The Somerville Housing Authority (SHA), another partner in the project, has committed 18 project-based Section 8 units to the development. Executive Director Joe Macaluso pointed out that the housing is important both to the residents and SHA, because more than 2,000 Somerville residents are on its waiting list. He also said its success is the story of a great development, and a planning process, and should be the model for increasing affordable housing throughout the state.

The project is using federal low-income housing tax credits administered by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). SCC's application for state low-income housing tax credits was awarded $600,000. Somerville received one of the first project grants from the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a fund created by the state legislature and the governor to preserve and create affordable housing.

Private funding came from the National Equity Fund, an affiliate created by Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC); Citizens Bank, a construction and permanent lender that made a $2.2 million dollar commitment; Boston Community Capitol which provided $1 million, and the Federal Home Loan Bank which made a $400,000 grant.

The initial conceptualization of the project was sparked after a conversation with HUD representatives Abbey Ogunbola and Ron Armstead about the need to develop affordable housing on Linden Street.

But despite all of the important players and financial support, the project only became viable after the SCC reached out to the neighborhood. The residents were treated as the true stakeholders in the proposed development, and were partners with SCC in the planning process.

As Ms. Lipinski concluded: "So finally, we have our neighborhood back. I thank you, the residents thank you, and we are excited. It was a long road, it was a difficult one, but we got to know a lot of people, and learned how to bargain and make agreement. And that's exactly what we did - everyone left the table happy."