A former Comfort Inn at 900 Morrissey Blvd. in Dorchester held an Oct. 7 ribbon cutting for its conversion into 99 permanent homes for older adults who have experienced homelessness, more than three years after neighborhood opposition led its developers to scale back the plan. Ninety-six of the 99 furnished studios were already occupied when Mayor Michelle Wu and housing officials marked the opening, the Boston Globe reported.
The Boston Planning and Development Agency board approved the conversion in May 2023. The agency's project record lists the developer as TCB 900 Morrissey, an affiliate of The Community Builders, with Pine Street Inn as the supportive service provider, and says all of the units will be affordable to people earning less than 30% of the area median income. The agency's approval announcement said people 62 and older would get preference.
The Community Builders operates the building, and Pine Street Inn provides round-the-clock services on site, the Dorchester Reporter reported. Boston Housing Authority Administrator Kenzie Bok said the authority is providing project-based vouchers for all 99 apartments, Boston Real Estate Times reported.
Pine Street Inn and The Community Builders first proposed in 2022 to buy the 131-room hotel and convert it into roughly 105 to 110 apartments, according to the Dorchester Reporter. Some neighbors opposed the plan, citing the site's closeness to the Richard J. Murphy School, public safety and the concentration of social-service programs in Dorchester, the Reporter reported. The developers cut the plan by 11 units and agreed to limit it to residents 62 or older before the planning board approved it, the Globe reported.
"Boston is taking every opportunity to ensure that all our residents have a fair chance at a safe and stable place to live," Wu said at the event, according to the Reporter. Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of Pine Street Inn, said the average age of the building's tenants is 68, the Reporter reported. She told the Globe that all of the tenants are over 62 and that six are veterans.
One resident, who gave the Globe only his first name, Reginald, has lived in a fourth-floor studio since December 2025, the paper reported. "Just being able to close my door and get away from the cold, the turmoil outside," he told the Globe. "It has changed my life."
The conversion was paid for with a mix of public and private money, including the city's federal American Rescue Plan funds, state affordable-housing programs, MassHousing financing and gifts from the Yawkey Foundation and Pine Street Inn, according to the Reporter. The planning agency's project record and the city's project page, checked Oct. 8, do not list the project's total cost.
Sources:
Boston Planning and Development Agency, board approval announcement, May 11, 2023
BPDA project record, 900 Morrissey Boulevard
checked Oct. 8, 2026
City of Boston project page, 900 Morrissey Blvd.
checked Oct. 8, 2026