Boston, April 14, 2014, — This morning, Chinatown tenants and other community activists posted a Payment Overdue Notice on the Millennium Partners building to protest their underpayment of $15 million in affordable housing fees. The action was part of a nationwide campaign to draw attention to the affordable housing crisis.
Protesters prsent the $15.3 million invoice outside the Millennium Partners building (provided to bostonese.com by CPA)。
Protesters from the Chinese Progressive Association（CPA）, Right to the City Boston, and the Boston Jobs Coalition posted a giant Payment Overdue Notice on Millennium Partners’ office to protest underpayment of $15 million in affordable housing fees from their two most recent luxury housing projects along Washington Street.
According to the City of Boston’s inclusionary development policy, condo developers that include no affordable units in their projects should “pay out” more than the $200,000 per unbuilt unit charged for rental projects. On top of that base per unit fee, condo developers should also add half of the difference between the market sale price and the affordable unit price. Organizers estimate that the developer underpaid the affordable housing fees by $5.9 million on the Millennium Place project and more than $9 million on the current Millennium Towers project.
“Millennium Partners already got $26 million in tax breaks,” said organizer Lorrayne Shen. “We have two or three families living in an apartment in Chinatown while others are being forced into homelessness, but Millennium was given a $15 million discount on paying their affordable housing fees! We could use that money to house some of these families.”
Millennium Partners develops luxury condominiums, five-star hotels, and sports club and retail facilities in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington D.C. They own and operate a portfolio worth over $4 billion, with approximately $13 billion in assets under management in 2010. Millennium Partners is one of the best-performing hedge funds, averaging 17% a year.