Wayland Church Plans Affordable Housing Development

WAYLAND, MA — The region's affordable housing crisis is so bad, a Wayland church is stepping in to build affordable units as an act of the gospel.

Wayland's Good Shepherd Parish has sketched out a plan to lease a portion of its St. Ann's church property to a nonprofit developer that would in turn build as many as 65 units for the disabled and people over age 62.

"Housing is a fundamental human right and this will be one more way Good Shepherd Parish will continue bringing God’s light into the world," the Rev. Dave O’Leary wrote in a recent letter to his parish. "To repeat, housing is a fundamental human right and Good Shepherd Parish is taking steps to be a leader in advancing this project for that very reason."

Good Shepherd would partner on the project with the Archdiocese of Boston's nonprofit development arm, the Planning Office of Urban Affairs. The nonprofit has built many affordable housing developments across the state, including in Ashland, Worcester and Brookline.

The development would be at the 124 Cochituate Road St. Ann's campus, not Good Shephard's Main Street site.

The church's development would benefit local low-income renters, but it would also benefit the town. If built at 60 or more units, the project would allow Wayland to meet the 10% affordable housing requirement under state 40B law. The project would also count toward a new law requiring communities like Wayland located near MBTA stations to increase density.

Good Shepherd will make its formal pitch to the Wayland Affordable Housing Trust board Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a hybrid meeting. The project could get approval to move ahead as soon as May 2023, according to the town manager's office.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the location of the development. It has been updated to reflect the correct location.