Quick Link:  Roosevelt Heights   ||  Pleasant Prospect Home Ownership Program

    
The National Apartment Association recently awarded the Walkover Commons housing community in the Campello section of Brockton a 2004 Paragon Award. The new Walkover Commons community contains 80 units with a mixture of market rate and affordable apartment homes.

The $13.1 million complex opened in 2003 on the site of the former Walkover Club, a Brockton landmark built as a social hall for factory workers of the former Walkover Shoe factory. The Club building included an old nightclub and ballroom popular in the post WWII era.

“This project has been an absolute jewel for the Campello area in revitalizing a previously prominent landmark building and giving it a second life in renaissance. This was once a thriving area of shoe making history and returning now to a place of prominence in the city as a home for residents is monumental for Brockton’s future,” said Mayor Jack Yunits of the honor. 

“The development would not have been possible without the support and creativity of Brockton Mayor Yunits and members of his administration,” said Howard Cohen, President of Beacon Residential Properties. 

The new building includes a number of amenities sought by residents including a fitness room, library, function room, and laundry facilities accessible on each floor. Located in close proximity to a commuter rail station and to community retail stores, the community is part of a citywide trend bringing new housing, retail and entertainment venues to Brockton. 

“This Paragon award proves what one committed team can accomplish together,” stated Howard Cohen, President of Beacon Residential Properties. “David Chilinski and the designers at Prellwitz Chilinski provided an ideal design program that met our needs for a contemporary housing community while reflecting the spirit and scale of the old Walkover building,” he said. “The Beacon Companies staff, who worked tirelessly on Walkover Commons, our financial partners who helped finance the project, and the neighbors and community officials in Brockton were all involved in the team collaboration. 

The National Apartment Association (NAA) presented its annual PARAGON Awards during the NAA Education Conference & Exposition held in June 2004 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. The annual Paragon Awards recognize the multifamily housing industry’s top executives, employees, affiliates and properties. The Walkover Commons Paragon award was for ‘Best Garden/Townhouse Community of 150 units or less.’ NAA is a federation of 164 state and local affiliated associations representing approximately 31,000 members responsible for more than 5 million apartment homes nationwide. It is the largest broad-based organization dedicated solely to rental housing.

Roosevelt Heights

Governor Jane Swift visited Brockton on a clear fall day in October to help rededicate the Roosevelt Heights development on Arthur Paquin Way off Richmond Street. A one time dilapidated housing project in Ward Seven;it was shuttered in 1997 closing 122 units of subsidized housing. Through a partnership led by the Brockton Housing Authority, with the State Department of Housing and Community Development, the US Housing and Urban Development Office and the Mayor’s Office; $15 million in funding was amassed to create homes for 102 families. Mayor Jack Yunits attended the rededication ceremony which was highlighted by musical accompaniment of the Brockton High School Band. 

Mayor Yunits complimented the efforts of the Swift administration noting that when she ventures to this part of the state in the future she and her family can view a number of projects which she canpoint with pride as hallmarks of her administration. The governor cited the success of the Yunits administration in wrestling funding through every avenue available and tapping every resource to preserve and promote affordability and character at Roosevelt Heights. The success of this renovation owes in large part to the spirit of cooperation and collaboration which the city’s legislative delegation provided. Sen. Robert Creedon, Reps. Geraldine Creedon, Thomas Kennedy and City Councilor Charles Logan lent tremendous support and input. US Congressman Stephen Lynch spoke of his own experience living in public housing while growing up in South Boston and the great sense of community that it instilled in him. 

Pleasant Prospect Home Ownership Program 
PHASE I 

The Mayor of the City of Brockton, was pleased to announce the availability of new homes through the Pleasant/Prospect Homeownership Program. Six homes will be built through this City-sponsored initiative – two, single-family homes and four, two-family homes (with an owner’s unit and rental apartment). These homes are located on North Warren Avenue, Turner Street and Haverhill Street. South Shore Custom Builders, Inc. was selected as the builder for the project.

The Program has been created by the City of Brockton to create new affordable opportunities for families to purchase their first home in Brockton and to bring the stability of increased homeownership into the Pleasant/Prospect Street neighborhood. This will also increase the supply of much needed housing in Brockton, including new rental units and reinforce the new housing development efforts completed through the Youth Build Program and the Brockton Housing Authority.

The City is combining a number of resources to make the homes affordable. Among them the allocation of $100,000 in HOME Program funding, administered by the Brockton Redevelopment Authority.

Six new homes are available to first-time homebuyers through this project – two, single-family homes and four, two-family homes. The single-family homes are 2,062 square feet in size with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, an eat-in kitchen, dining room and a family room. 

The floor plans and elevations for both the single-family and two-family homes are included in this application.
The purchase price:
Single-family-$123,810.00
Two-family-$177,760.00

Financing for the project will include $1,000 towards closing costs to secure the mortgage, thereby reducing the purchasers' cash requirements.

• Applicants must meet Program requirements to qualify for the new homes. 
• All owners must have incomes within 80% of median income ($63,500) to qualify for the new homes. These incomes by family size are listed below.
• All owners must agree to occupy at least one of the units in the homes as a primary residence. All tenants who will be selected by the home purchasers of the two-family homes must have incomes within 60% of median income. Owners must agree to deed restrictions that will limit profits at resale. Such restrictions are defined in application.

2002 Income Limits for HOME Program and Housing Stabilization Fund
Median Family Income = $63,500

For Homebuyers
(Buyers Must Earn No More Than 80% of Area Median Income)

For Renters
(Renters Must Earn No More Than 60% of Area Median Income)

Homebuyer Selection Process
Those interested in purchasing one of the homes through this Program must complete an application and return it to one of the member banks of the Brockton Housing Partnership. The Brockton Housing Partnership will review and refer qualified applicants to the Mayor's Office. All pre-qualified applicants who want to be part of the final selection process must participate in homebuyer workshops. These workshops will offer prospective purchasers a wide range of useful information on homeownership.

Registration forms must be returned to:

Neighborhood Housing Services of the South Shore
1200 Hancock Street (Lower Level)
Quincy, MA 02169

Registration forms can be obtained from the following:

• Mayor's Office, City of Brockton - (508) 580-7123

• Neighborhood Housing Services of the South Shore - (617) 770-2227 ext. 31

• Pro-Home, Inc. - (508) 821-1092

Through a lottery system, the six new homebuyers will randomly be selected. To be included in this lottery, applicants must have the following:

• First-time Homebuyer Questionnaire 

• Uniform Residential Loan Application 

• Approval letter from a participating lending institution.

• Copy of most recent credit report.

• Two most recent pay stubs.

• Signed Lottery Disclosure Statement. 

• Home buying Workshop Completion Certificate.

All of the above forms must be submitted to one of the participating lenders listed below for applicants to be pre-qualified and become part of the lottery pool. After applicants have been pre-qualified, all of the above materials must be submitted to the Mayor's Office for consideration by the Lottery Selection Committee. 

Submit these forms to:

Mayor's Office
City Hall
45 School Street
Brockton, MA 02301
Attention: Karen Sunnarborg, Housing Specialist

Any further questions regarding this application can be addressed to:

Neighborhood Housing Services of the South Shore
1200 Hancock Street, Lower Level
Quincy, MA 02169
Attention: Debbie Kidd, Housing Coordinator
617/770-2387

        or

Pro-Home, Inc.
45 School Street
Taunton, MA 02780
Attention: Mary Ellen Rochette, Executive Director
508/821-1092

All applications for homes included in Phase I of the Pleasant/Prospect Homeownership Program must be submitted for pre-qualification to one of the following participating banks of the Brockton Housing Partnership:

Abington Savings Bank www.abingtonsavings.com 800/845-2321
Brockton Credit Union www.brocktoncu.com 800/244-7592
The Community Bank www.communitybank.com 800/457-2043
Crescent Credit Union www.crescentcredit.org 800/894-4445
Eastern Bank www.ebmortgage.com 888/432-6847
People's Savings Bank www.peoplessavingsbank.com 888/222-9839
Plymouth Savings Bank www.plymouthsavings.com 800/649-3330
Rockland Trust www.rocklandtrust.com 508/588-1100
Security Federal Savings Bank 508/586-4494

Email the Mayor with your comments here