Year-End Story #1

Welcoming New Residents and Celebrating the Holidays in Stable Homes

BNCLT is wrapping up an important year of building our model and doubling the size of our land trust from 15 families to 30 families—all low-income residents who can enjoy these holidays without worrying about whether they have a home to live in next month or next year. Many other local residents continue joining these families to be stewards of the community as our growing CLT community collectively protects, preserves, and influences the fate of our neighborhoods in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. 

This holiday season, BNCLT resident Juana says, “it’s the first time that I’m part of the BNCLT family.” After living in shelters in different parts of Massachusetts, Juana and her five kids — including two sets of twins! — got a letter from UHM Properties about the opportunity to become BNCLT residents. Juana remembers “gathering all the documents that I needed for the process to be approved. And then I got approved!” 

Juana shares that having a stable home is important for her and her kids because “we are a family, and family is the most important thing.” She feels that “it’s a blessing to live in a place like this. My kids are happy, the apartment is humungous, so we have plenty of space. It doesn’t feel like an apartment — it feels like a house [...] We have no complaints living here. Every time that something needs to be fixed, they’re always there.”

And for Juana, being part of BNCLT is more than just a stable home: “it’s a big community,” Juana emphasizes. “I see the union in between the residents — it’s just like one big family.”