By Michael Coughlin Jr.
During the Community Alliance of Mission Hill’s (CAMH) monthly meeting in November, attendees heard Victory Programs’ plans to acquire the enVision Hotel at 81 S Huntington Avenue for permanent supportive housing units.
Victory Programs, a local non-profit organization that works in addiction, homelessness, permanent supportive housing, and community center services, has rented the hotel since November 2021 and has 55 transitional shelter beds there.
Now, Victory Programs’ Executive Director Sarah Porter says the organization is in the process of acquiring the hotel and plans to convert it to 41 units of permanent supportive housing in the next five years. Additionally, Porter indicated that the hotel’s current footprint would remain the same.
As part of the plan, the building will continue to provide on-site support 24 hours a day, every day, with case managers, a social worker, and recovery coaches. Medical providers will continue to visit weekly. All the units will be single occupancy, and there are plans for community and group space.
Later, Porter highlighted the success of the shelter beds since the organization rented out the hotel. For example, 208 people have gone through the hotel and been housed at one point since November of 2021 — 57 of which have left and found permanent housing.
“It’s a hefty amount of work that has happened — really positive work in this neighborhood. We’re quite proud of what has happened, and we’ve worked really hard to make sure that we’ve had as close to a positive impact on the neighborhood as we possibly can,” said Porter.
Regarding the timeline, Porter noted they were on track to acquire the building this month and indicated that renovations, which she said would happen with individuals in place, are not expected to begin until June 2027. The plan is for the building to be fully operational and leased up in March 2029.
“It will remain a shelter for at least the next two to three years while we secure all the financing we need, while we do all the planning and as we get ready ideally toward renovation,” said Porter.
Following the presentation, residents began to ask questions and make comments. One resident asked about the future zoning process that Porter mentioned would happen.
Taylor Morley, Victory Programs’ Chief Operating Officer, explained that they will initially apply for conditional use through the Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) as transitional housing.
“As we work toward that construction closing and the plan to make it permanent housing, we’ll do a permanent change to multifamily residential,” said Morley.
There were also questions regarding funding. Porter indicated that since they opened the shelter in 2021, they have received shared funding, at times from the state and at times from the city.
However, she noted that the “vast majority” of state funding will expire at the end of the year, and the city will then provide the majority of funding.
Porter said the city and state are funding the hotel’s acquisition, with a small portion coming from private funds.
Following comments and questions from those in attendance, Porter emphasized that they want this to be an open and communicative process.
“This is sort of — I’m hoping — the beginning of a conversation. We’re meeting with the electeds; we’ve put out requests to meet with other neighborhood groups,” said Porter.
“Our goal is to make sure that everyone knows where we’re going, that no one is caught off guard, and to be in conversation.”
For more information about CAMH, visit its website at https://www.camh.boston/. According to its website, the next CAMH meeting is December 18th.