National Trust - Excellence in Historic Preservation

Lawrence, Massachusetts

On behalf of HUD and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson presented the 2004 Secretary's Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation to the Reviviendo Family Housing project in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The award recognizes projects and activities that advance the goals of historic preservation while providing affordable housing and expanded economic opportunities, particularly for low- and moderate-income people. Reviviendo Family Housing is the seventh recipient of the award.

The 2004 award honors the Reviviendo Family Housing project for its adaptive use of historic structures for affordable housing in the City of Lawrence, one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts. Reviviendo Family Housing created 17 units of affordable housing structured to be affordable in perpetuity for very low-income residents, including homeless families.

The project transformed three abandoned historic buildings and a vacant lot into high quality affordable housing in a distressed neighborhood. The five newly constructed units were built by low-income labor as modular units and then incorporated into the project. Green building techniques and energy efficient technology and materials (high efficiency boilers, sprayed foam insulation, and high performance windows) were used to reduce environmental impact and operating costs as well as to enhance the health of the occupants. One of the units is fully wheelchair accessible. The rehabilitation effort utilized state and federal HOME funds and low-income housing tax credits.