HUD Secretary's Best in American Living Award Winners 1999

Waverly Homes

Roxbury, Massachusetts

Projected Home Prices: $100,000

Median Home Price in the Metropolitan Statistical Area: $166,000

Description: In 1996, a planning process was undertaken through the collaboration of the City of Boston and a task force comprised of neighborhood residents, business owners and local agencies. Waverly Homes, a nine-home scattered site project was ultimately a product of that planning process.

Waverly Homes is the first new construction homeownership project in this section of the city, which is within an Empowerment Zone and in Boston's poorest neighborhood. Many of the materials were donated by private businesses, and construction loans were obtained at below-market rates through the Federal Home Loan Bank.

With the assistance of the architectural staff of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the developer was able to equip one of the homes with the best possible equipment for a wheelchair-bound resident, including a roll-in shower unit and an elevator. The home was ultimately sold to a wheelchair-bound individual as a completely accessible home.

1999 Awards Winners