One Year After Historic Housing Investment, Early Successes Signal Brighter Beginnings
When Nixon Mutengu, 25, moved into the first-floor apartment of a Brighton triple-decker this past February, a weight came off his shoulders. With its sunny, pale yellow exterior and gleaming interior, the newly renovated building mirrored the brighter future he was about to begin.
Just a year ago, his circumstances were drastically different.
“I was taking part in a job training program, and I didn’t plan adequately. I was working full-time, but I wasn’t able to balance out my bills,” Mutengu recalled. “I ended up homeless.”
In August 2024, he discovered Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a Boston-based nonprofit that provides temporary housing support and other services to young people experiencing housing instability and facing barriers to stable housing. Ultimately, Bridge seeks to help young people achieve self-sufficiency, transform their lives and build fulfilling futures.
Mass General Brigham is supporting this critical mission. Bridge was one of 22 local organizations selected in June 2024 to collectively receive $18 million in Community Health Impact Funds awarded by Mass General Brigham to support affordable housing initiatives in Boston and North Suffolk County.
Construction of the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building at Massachusetts General Hospital triggered this landmark investment through the state’s Determination of Need (DoN) process. This broader DoN investment — totaling more than $62 million — is the largest in Massachusetts history.
Now, even just one year out, some of the projects are already seeing early successes.
The funding awarded to Bridge Over Troubled Waters supported the transformation of the Brunson Liberty House, an independent living home for youth who complete Bridge’s Transitional Living Program. The organization describes it as “next step” housing, designed to launch residents into independence.
Each of the home’s nine residents, ages 18 to 24, has their own bedroom, with shared kitchens and bathrooms, across three apartments. Residents can live in the house for up to 18 months for $275 per month, but they must demonstrate they are enrolled in college or working full-time, receiving counseling, learning money management skills and other requirements.
Brunson’s first residents began moving in last October. Six men, three women — nine young people no longer unhoused, all employed.
"We are thrilled to see these investments already taking shape and creating opportunities for people who need a safe place to call home,” said Sylvia Chiang, MPH, director of Community Health Impact for Mass General Brigham. “This is exactly the kind of meaningful, long-term impact we hoped to achieve through our community health impact funding.”
Transforming lives
During his time in Brunson, Mutengu completed a job training program, specializing in business fundamentals and project management, and now works in Bridge’s Human Resources department as a recruitment specialist. His next set of goals: earn a bachelor’s degree and buy a home with his mother.
“Moving into the Brunson house allowed me to have momentum again,” he said. “It was a way to work toward independence with a safety net, preparing myself to transition to being an independent adult.”
When Bridge purchased the 80-year-old triple-decker in June 2024, it was in dire need of renovation, explained Peter Ducharme, program director at Bridge.
“It ended up being a much larger renovation than we had originally planned,” he said. “Everything had to be ripped down to the studs.”
The award from Mass General Brigham helped make it possible to completely transform the building with new insulation, siding, roofing, plumbing, windows, flooring, electrical, heating, paint, fixtures, cabinets, appliances and more. As soon as the building received its certificate of occupancy, its first nine residents began moving in.
“On the one hand, you might think that nine beds is not a lot, especially when we’re seeing 2,000 young people a year. But it actually is because it helps us maximize all of our housing stock, which also includes rapid rehousing and congregant care,” Ducharme said. “The answer can’t always be ‘increase the housing.’ We have to find more efficient uses of all our programs.”
Similarly, The Neighborhood Developers (TND) has advanced housing stability with the help of Community Health Impact Funds from Mass General Brigham. Based in Chelsea, TND is a nonprofit organization that builds and preserves homes in Chelsea, Revere and Everett to create an affordable, safe housing stock.
This past April, TND acquired a troubled three-building property in Chelsea called Park and Pearl. Supported in part by Mass General Brigham’s contribution to TND’s Anti-displacement Revolving Loan Fund, the purchase saved 30 tenants from eviction and helped fund essential safety and habitability repairs, including lead and asbestos removal, security improvements and pest control.
“Residents at Park and Pearl were withholding rent in their protests against rent increases that came without any property improvements,” said Rafael Mares, executive director of TND. “The property owner had already started the eviction process. Signing the purchase and sale agreement for the property halted those evictions.”