Revere celebrates new affordable housing

REVERE – Helen Zucco recalled seeing the Washington Street property two years ago.”The tenants who were here – they had to suspend bags of bread from the ceiling at night so the rats wouldn’t get them,” Zucco, executive director of the Chelsea Restoration Corporation, said Monday.But thanks to Zucco and Revere city officials, she was telling this story in the hallway of one of four new, affordable condos that will be offered in an upcoming lottery.The properties at 357 Washington Ave. represent a two-year project for Chelsea Restoration Corporation and city officials as part of the Revere’s Safe Housing Initiative. Through this initiative, the city files a receivership petition for properties determined to be blighted by inspectional services and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. The city names Chelsea Restoration Corporation, a nonprofit that rehabilitates properties as affordable housing in East Boston, Revere, Saugus, Chelsea and other communities, as the receiver to renovate the property.In the case of the Washington Street property, officials said it was mostly a rooming house with an unknown number of tenants.The city has stepped up its efforts to find and document such properties, according to Revere Mayor Daniel Rizzo, trying to eliminate illegal rooming houses that pose a public health risk and can diminish the quality of life for other residents of the neighborhood.Director of Municipal Inspections Nicholas Catinazzo said the process typically begins with a complaint about a sanitation issue, often due to overcrowding. The city must document and monitor the issue – but often times, the landlords and/or tenants won’t let city inspectors inside. It’s usually a sign.”We’re 9 for 9 in finding illegal apartments in these situations,” Catinazzo said.Other times the owners or the bank that owns the property cannot be easily found. Then the attorney general’s office goes to work researching the property’s legal status. The city and the owner or a representative have a hearing where the city petitions to take the property into receivership, evict any remaining tenants and rehabilitate the home.If the judge grants the property to the city, Zucco said she changes the locks and the work begins.”Sometimes the judge will allow the banks or a management company to oversee (renovations) but you have to keep up on them because it never happens,” Zucco said.For the Washington Street house, the result of that renovation is four energy-efficient condominiums – a two-bedroom and two three-bedroom units with a full bathroom, and a four-bedroom unit with 1? bathrooms. Each unit has new plumbing and electrical systems, on-demand gas heating systems, new windows, new appliances and fixtures, new carpeting and ceramic tiling, and new bathrooms and kitchens. There is off-street parking and washer/dryer hookups. The condos are offered for sale at $147,000 for the two-bedroom unit; $217,000 for the three-bedroom unit, and $229,800 for the four-bedroom unit. Income limits and affordable housing restrictions apply, and condo fees are to be determined.There will be a lottery for those who are interested in purchasing.Zucco and Rizzo acknowledged feeling compassion for the tenants they often displace. But they said that health and safety concerns must be considered for those residents, as well as residents in the surrounding neighborhood.”The goal at the end of the day is urban renewal,” said Attorney Gerry D’Ambrosio, who helped with the legal aspects of the receivership. “And it works.”