Between the late 1930s and early 1950s, the Heath Street and Bromley Park developments were constructed in Jamaica Plain, part of the federal government’s post-depression and post-WWII commitment to public housing.

Bromley-Heath has provided critical safety-net housing to thousands of Jamaica Plain families and a community that countless activists have worked to protect and improve. (For an example, read our JP & Me blog interview with leader Julia Martin.)

It was the first public housing development in the US to be managed by a tenant organization, the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation (TMC), which operated from 1973 to 2012.

In 2016, Bromley-Heath was renamed the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments, in honor of the long-time leader of the TMC who passed away.

Federal investment in public housing has declined relentlessly since the 1980s. In 2014, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) began actively pursuing partnerships with private developers as a strategy for funding needed renovations.

JPNDC partnered with the TMC over two decades in projects including the Stop & Shop/Martha Eliot Health Center complex, Walden Community Garden, and the Julia Martin House.

In 2013 JPNDC began intensive community organizing to create a new tenant organization at Bromley-Heath and support the development of a diverse and representative group of resident leaders. See our 2014 video, “How we became tenant leaders”

Centre Street Partners was formed in 2017 by JPNDC, The Community Builders and Urban Edge (the same three groups leading the Jackson Square Redevelopment Initiative) to apply for BHA designation to redevelop the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments. Our designation was approved in August 2017.

MCHA is a public-private partnership to redevelop public housing that is led by mission-driven organizations with deep community roots and commitments to maximizing benefits for low-income residents.

Serving the best interests of all residents of Mildred C. Hailey Apartments

Preserving all affordable units and creating new ones

An inclusive and transparent planning process

Homes that are part of a broader neighborhood, where dividing lines are blurred and the MCHA is reconnected with the surrounding community.

Our development plan was submitted to the BHA in 2017 as an initial concept that will be strengthened through an inclusive community process

Phase I calls for the replacement of seven residential buildings and the current Anna Mae Cole Community Center with 673 homes (see next) and a new Anna Mae Cole Community Center

Of the total 673 new units, 253 will replace existing units for MCHA families and 420 will be new affordable and middle-income units

The new, centrally located 6,800 sq. ft. Anna Mae Cole Community Center will serve as a resource for community and family use