Mission
NOAH, a community development corporation, promotes equity, community cohesion, environmental justice, and economic resiliency. We increase access to affordable housing, create social and economic opportunities, and empower residents to be leaders of change.
Who We Serve
The population served by NOAH - in East Boston and elsewhere within the Greater Boston area, including the North and South Shores, MetroWest, and beyond - is primarily low- to low/moderate-income level individuals and/or families with diverse languages and cultures. Annually, at least 40% of NOAH clients are below 50% AMI. The vast majority of NOAH's clients are at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with a target being low-income households under 60% of the AMI. However, we will not turn away any distressed Massachusetts family looking for help. Annually, 50% of all NOAH clients are Spanish speakers, with a total of 65% or more clients representing an ethnic or racial minority demographic group. East Boston, traditionally a Gateway neighborhood, has seen many demographic changes over its long history. This low- to moderate-income area is NOAH’s core neighborhood services programming community. Today, East Boston is the only Boston neighborhood with a Latinx/Hispanic majority population, which makes up some 52.8% of the entire population, according to US census data.
History
NOAH works towards achieving the National Housing Goal of “a decent home and suitable living environment” for as many underprivileged families and individuals as it can, both locally and regionally. We look to achieve this through an increasing number of social and environmental benefit programs: counseling families on buying and renting affordable homes and on avoiding foreclosure; building and redeveloping properties into affordable homes; maintaining our own rental housing property portfolio; helping the elderly and handicapped with no-cost home repairs; focusing on homelessness prevention, rental placement and preservation initiatives; running three children’s and youth programs; offering ESOL and US Citizenship classes; and developing significant environmental justice, neighborhood restoration, and climate change resiliency programs.
Over 15 years ago, NOAH's Board made the decision to extend the services of our non-profit into the Greater Boston region suburbs and Gateway cities. Many young people were leaving these towns, and the state, for less expensive regions, and the lack of reasonably priced housing was often cited as one of the major factors. Police officers, firefighters, DPW workers, teachers and many others find it hard to live within the towns in which they work. For those with low- to moderate-incomes, it could be challenging to remain in their hometowns due to the lack of affordable housing in these communities. Accordingly, NOAH extended its reach, offering to partner in affordable real estate development with municipalities that do not have the services of another non-profit CDC organization. In Holliston, NOAH and its development partners completed a 30-unit affordable family rental complex behind the Town Hall (Cutler Heights). We purchased a vacant nursing home on property in North Andover (Stevens Corner) and completed a project to redevelop 42 affordable rental homes for families. NOAH was selected by the Carlisle Housing Authority to build an affordable 26-unit, independent living senior housing community. It was completed in February of 2014. Benfield Farms excels as a standard for green living - the building achieved both ENERGY STAR for New Homes (V3) and LEED for Homes GOLD certification. NOAH was chosen by the Town of Webster through a competitive process to renovate the historic Sitkowski School building into 66 units of independent-living senior affordable housing. It also achieved a LEED Gold certification.
Shoe Shop Place in Middleborough was completed in 2016. The $9 million development created 25 affordable housing units. In addition, construction of Coppersmith Village in East Boston was finished in 2019. This 71-unit mixed-income project down the street from NOAH headquarters has both apartments and townhomes. Several other development projects are also in the planning stages.