Social Housing Found

South End Community Development Inc. was a new idea when Whittlesey accepted its directorship. He worked with the United South End Settlements staff on a successful proposal to rehabilitate South End houses in one of Bostons urban renewal areas. They received a grant from the US Federal Housing and Home Agencies for $205,000 matched with a contribution of $50,000 from the United South End Settlements and $75,000 from the Committee of the Permanent Charity Fund, now known as the Boston Foundation. This book tells the story of the completion of that Demonstration Program, of its transformation into a technical assistance corporation, and its expansion into the Greater Boston area.

Convinced that financing was key for successful affordable housing ventures, Whittlesey accepted the directorship of the Boston Housing Partnership (BHP). BHP organized the projects, raised financing for them, and had local community development corporations own and operate them. BHP became a model for the nation. Conducting a national survey and identifying the presence of significant housing organizations around the country, Whittlesey then left BHP to head up the organization of a national association of housing partnerships, now known as the Housing Partnership Network (HPN). With a hundred members, by 2014, HPN had collectively developed and preserved over three hundred thousand units of affordable rental housing and built, rehabilitated, or financed sixty-three thousand single-family homes.