On a quiet Dorchester street, an elderly man lived alone for decades in an 1880s single-family home. As his health declined, the house declined with him. The old house became too large for an elderly person to manage on his own. It became uninhabitable.
When the house went up for sale, his next-door neighbor, Joanne, who lived in the Big Top Co-op, acted quickly. Before developers could step in with cash offers, she purchased the house herself and contacted CRECHE, the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor, a housing alternative to the for-profit housing market in Boston. When Creche secured financing, Joanne sold the house to them at a discount, interrupting the larger pattern of profit-maximizing real estate.
Creche’s one staff member, Isaac Everett, develops co-housing communities built around shared kitchens, common spaces, and collective responsibility for daily living. Each project faces the same constraint: how to create affordability in a market that leaves little room for working people. Creche’s response has been persistence, local partnership, and a belief that neighborhoods can shape their own future.
The Dorchester house is becoming the Jubilee House, a seven-bedroom, wheelchair-accessible co-housing community developed in collaboration with New Roots AME Church. Creche assembled a team, including General contractor Sean Miller of Genuine Construction and Consulting, who has worked with several LEAF-supported businesses, and oversees the project. Architect Miriam Gee of Co-Everything designed the renovation to meet the highest energy-efficiency standards while maintaining the historic home.
Inside, the kitchen is being built for shared use: daily cooking, maintenance, and care among housemates. Plumbing is nearing completion, with electrical work to follow. When finished, Jubilee House will be Creche’s fourth and largest home.
LEAF is providing flexible capital that enabled the renovation to move forward, ensuring the house remains a neighborhood home rather than a profit-maximizing asset. Creche’s model works: affordable co-living at roughly 50 to 60 percent of market rent, increased housing density without replacing historic homes, and a way to keep communities intact—one community house at a time.