The Fall of Orchard Park, the Rise of Orchard Gardens

Abstract

Chapter 7 describes the harrowing decline of Orchard Park during the late 1980s and early 1990s and then traces the resident-centered successful effort to transform Orchard Park into Orchard Gardens using the HOPE VI program. When HOPE VI funds became available in the 1990s, activist Boston citizens—prominently including Orchard Park Tenants Association chairwoman Edna Bynoe—had every reason to assume that public housing transformation would overwhelmingly serve those with the lowest incomes. HOPE VI, Boston-style, was co-led by a neighborhood-based not-for-profit developer and featured prominent resident input. Orchard Gardens allocated 85 percent of dwellings to public housing residents, while enabling 70 percent of former Orchard Park households to return. The new community, under well-regarded private management, also positively impacted the surrounding neighborhood by providing infill housing, as well as community facilities, including a new school. Boston continued to emphasize housing for very low-income households in subsequent HOPE VI initiatives.