Mo Vaughn: Affordable Housing Champion

The only people who retire younger than MBTA employees are professional athletes.

After their sports careers wind down, athletes find interesting ways to spend their time. If Curt Schilling’s recent surgery doesn’t fix his shoulder, perhaps he’ll go into video games full-time. Some athletes, like Roger Clemens, spend their golden years in court.

But perhaps our favorite retired athlete is now former Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn, who just purchased two affordable housing complexes in Boston.

Casey Ross (hi, Casey! hope the folks at Morrissey Boulevard aren’t hazing you too badly!) gives us the heartwarming details.

Vaughn and his company, Omni New York LLC, will buy the Florence Apartments in Roslindale and Forestvale Apartments in Jamaica Plain, two developments in danger of losing the government assistance that has kept them affordable for decades.

The mayor’s office said Vaughn, 40, will seek financing through MassHousing, the state’s affordable-housing bank, to keep the apartments affordable for 20 years, promising to end nerve-wracking uncertainty for hundreds of residents.

That’s an even better way to serve the community than opening a slew of Dunkin’ Donuts locations. Not only is Vaughn going to keep the units affordable, residents say he’s going to fix them up a little.

“He told us it was his intent to fix up the units and make them nice,” said Kay Fallon, 66, a Forestvale resident of 30 years. “We feel like this is going to be a very good thing.”

Hopefully he signs a few autographs for the resident as he collects the rent.