Proposed housing for homeless raises concerns with some Dorchester residents

Residents have a little less than three weeks left to submit comments on a proposal to convert a Dorchester hotel into permanent housing for those who are experiencing homelessness.

"Hotels really are, in so many ways, the ideal conversion for ... single people who ... just need a little bit of space on their own," said Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of Pine Street Inn, who is co-developing the project along with Boston-based Community Builders Inc. "[People] who need a community and need some support and help holding onto their housing and dealing with a whole bunch of different things that led to their homelessness."

But some Dorchester residents are against the project. On Saturday, a couple dozen of them rallied outside 900 Morrissey Blvd., the location of the Comfort Inn that Pine Street and Community Builders want to convert.

Maggie Mancuso was one of them. She's a lifelong Dorchester resident, and said she's raising her kids on the same street she grew up on. She says she's in support of the mission of the project. But says with three schools, a community center, and a multi-lane road — all near or next to the hotel — it's the wrong space for this type of housing.

"I have a huge heart and I definitely am for these type of projects, this just isn't the location," said Mancuso. "Our kids, I want them to be safe ... As a parent, I couldn't feel safe with my children walking the streets with this kind of homelessness, drugs."

Nicola Dillon was holding a sign with Mancuso. Dillon lives across the street from the hotel. She says she's also in favor of these projects, just not in this neighborhood.

"We're maxed out, we don't need it," said Dillon. "Find somewhere else. There's a ton of places in the city that this can go in and, better yet, go outside the city. Why does Dorchester, Roxbury always have to take the brunt of this? And we're just ... we're done. We've had enough."

The project would convert the hotel at 900 Morrissey Blvd. into roughly 100 studio units for those who are chronically homeless — people who have been without housing consistently for more than a year. The conversion would become part of Pine Street Inn's current housing stock, which includes 637 units managed or owned by the organization, and 213 where they provide support services.

This type of hotel to housing conversion isn't new in Massachusetts. But some Dorchester residents say they're not only worried about crime and drug use from potential residents of the apartments, but also from the nearby area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as "Mass and Cass."

According to a statement from the Pine Street Inn, all those who apply to live in the units will be required to undergo a background check and multiple screenings before moving in.

Pine Street Inn and Community Builders held three public outreach meetings this fall before they submitted their Small Project Review application to the Boston Planning and Development Agency in November. According to a presentation that Pine Street Inn and Community Builders made to the BPDA on Dec. 7, more than 100 people attended each meeting. That meeting is the first and only official meeting/hearing that the BPDA has held so far about the project. During that meeting, while some spoke in favor of the project, the majority of attendees raised concerns about it.

Downie, from Pine Street Inn, says she understands residents' concerns and fears, adding that while the majority of stereotypes about the homeless are false, some are true. But she pointed to other similar projects managed or owned by Pine Street in the region as to how successful and meaningful this type of housing can be.

"We care about the neighborhoods because our tenants will now no longer be homeless and be tenants," said Downie. "We want them to be part of the neighborhood too, because they want to get out of homelessness as much as we want to get them out of homelessness and they want to be part of the neighborhood again. They want to go shop at a local store. They want to do what the rest of us do, which is, you know, watch the football game when they want. They want to make their own breakfast and things like that."

The deadline to submit public comments on the project is Jan. 6.

WBUR's Lynn Jolicoeur contributed to this report.