Take a sneak peek into a new affordable housing complex in Cambridge

Families in need of affordable housing in Cambridge will soon have a new option near Riverside Park. Two to four bedroom units are nearly complete in the housing project behind me and we're getting an early look inside. Let's check it out. Okay, okay, shoes off. There's a four bedroom unit so we've got one bedroom, two bedrooms. How difficult is it to find four bedroom unit that's also affordable housing? It's near impossible. They just don't exist. The Families here are not just getting an affordable cost of living, they own this home. This is theirs, they're participating in the market dynamics and the economics and the equity appreciation, all the things that a homeowner gets, and in a way that's affordable to them. So it's a pretty special sort of thing that Habitat does that nobody else is doing in the region. Shifts get cut, their payment goes down, and so this is a mortgage product that's geared to income, and that's what makes it affordable no matter what. So no matter their employment opportunity, no matter what happens, they're going to be able to afford this home. To be eligible for this affordable housing, your annual family income must be at least $60,000. When you buy a home here, your mortgage will be 25% of whatever your total income is. So in the scenario where your total family income is $60,000, you'd be paying about $1,250 to $1,500 per month for either a two-, three-, or four-bedroom apartment in this complex. When it comes to sale, if they choose to sell, there's terms within the Habitat agreement as to how that sale goes on to make sure that this isn't flipped or that isn't sort of a windfall for the family, that this is something they get to participate in but is not, you know, being taken advantage of when you think about the donations and the time, energy, activities donated, tons of time and expertise. And rightfully, our donors who volunteer their time or give money want to make sure this is staying with families who need affordable housing. And so we have mechanisms to make sure that the next family that lives there also needs the same benefit that the first family did.