Author: Dilia Ramirez

CEDAC NOT MENTIONED: Funding is a go for more Westhampton senior housing

Monday, June 11, 2012
Funding is a go for more Westhampton senior housing
By Lily Bouvier
Gazette Contributing Writer

WESTHAMPTON — Funding is now in place for a second phase of the Westhampton Woods senior housing project.
On May 9 the Hilltown Community Development Corporation announced that the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development had awarded $800,000 for the construction of eight new units at Westhampton Woods. That will bring the total number of residential units to 15. Work is scheduled to begin late this year or early in 2013.
The project has also received $280,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.
Westhampton Woods, located off Route 66 just past the Northampton line, provides affordable housing to people 62 and older. Rents for the new units are expected to be $673 per month, including utilities, and two units will be subsidized under the federal Section 8 program.
Phase I of the development was built in 2005 and includes seven energy-efficient apartments, along with a community room used for socializing as well as meetings of area organizations.
The new construction is a response to high demand for Westhampton Woods units. More than 30 people are on a waiting list, according to the Hilltown CDC.
In 2008 the organization conducted a feasibility study about expanding Westhampton Woods. It used a Community Development Block Grant to develop preliminary plans for a second phase.
The Hilltown CDC received the Federal Home Loan Bank funds for the expansion in December 2011. The recent award from the state completes the budget for the project, said Dave Christopolis, the organization’s executive director.
A date for the completion of the Phase II construction has not been determined.
The Hilltown CDC is also considering improvements to the existing Westhampton Woods complex, said Christopolis, including installation of a generator in the community room to provide heat and water in case of power losses. Residents of the complex were without power for a week during last October’s snowstorm.
The Hilltown CDC serves the Hampshire County communities of Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Plainfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthington, as well as several towns in Berkshire and Hampden counties.
Christopolis said the Hilltown CDC gets frequent calls inquiring about senior housing, and it is looking into building units in Chesterfield and Goshen. The agency is conducting surveys to determine interest and need and surveying possible sites. Decisions on these projects are expected by the end of this year.

Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2011
http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/06/11/funding-is-a-go-for-more-westhampton-senior-housing

SourceGazetteNet - Daily Hampshire Gazette

Agencies focus on helping unemployed

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Agencies focus on helping unemployed
By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

STURBRIDGE — Across Massachusetts there are hundreds of organizations striving to get people back to work and representatives from many of those met yesterday at the Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center to share how they’ve been accomplishing their goals through partnerships with one another.

The Commonwealth Workforce Coalition hosted the event called “Sharing Skills — Building Connections, Partnering for Opportunity” which opened with an address from Joanne F. Goldstein, secretary of the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

About 400 people attended from a variety of social service agencies and spent the day choosing from 33 workshops, including sessions on how to market an agency’s clients and assisting with transitions from college to the workforce.

“Things are getting better,” said Ann Donner, who is program manager for the Commonwealth Workforce Coalition, but she added that there are still a lot of people who have few skills and who earn low wages that continue to have problems finding and retaining jobs.

In one of the workshops, staff members from the agencies were taught to display their clients in a positive light when seeking employment for them.

The “pitch clinic” offered them a chance to “sell” their clients and organizers talked about how companies who take a chance on these clients and have a positive experience might be more willing to hire through the agency again.

The community college system has also become an integral part of getting people back to work and encouraging those who find positions to continue their education so that can retain their jobs. Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester has been successful in using federal grant funds to assist in workforce training and development and Springfield Technical Community College has partnered with Futureworks Career Center. The career center now notifies the college about what types of skills employers seek and the college will work to offer related classes so that students will be ready to take those jobs.

Peter Beard, senior vice president for impact at United Way Worldwide and Kevin Jordan, vice president for National Programs, Local Initiatives Support Corp., joined Loh-Sze Leung, executive director of SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive Workforce, for a panel discussion at lunch.

Mr. Jordan said that in developing partnerships, it is important to consider the outcome and what goals the agencies are trying to achieve by bonding with each other.

“Why is it better?” he asked. “How do they hold each other accountable for achieving more complex outcomes?”

Wendy Lauser, director of impact services at Pine Street Inn in Boston, said she often finds her staff dealing with unemployed homeless people and she’s learned that getting help to newly homeless people in the first 90 days is the most effective.

“Sooner is better,” she said, “Engaging people very quickly produces positive results.”

Her agency makes contact with homeless people and gives them bags with information. She said the agency has flexible staff members who will meet with clients anywhere they are comfortable.

What might surprise some people is that about 51 percent of those served by Pine Street Inn’s programs have a high school diploma and 23 percent have some college. More than half admit to having mental health issues or substance abuse problems, and it is important that in helping them find employment, they do not feel judged, she said.

Laurie Rose, who is the coordinator for the Pine Street Inn’s Workfirst program, recalled a successful client who told her it was the first time she’d been treated as something other than a drug addict.

While unemployment is a major problem and the focus of the conference was on working together to get people employed, homelessness often goes hand in hand with the problem.

© 2012 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
URL: http://www.telegram.com/article/20120515/NEWS/105159995/1237

SourceWorcester Telegram & Gazette

STCC, Futureworks to team up to reduce unemployment in Springfield

Monday, May 14, 2012
STCC, Futureworks to team up to reduce unemployment in Springfield
City’s jobless rate is well above state average
By Sy Becker
STURBRIDGE, Mass. (WWLP) – Massachusetts has an 8% jobless rate, but in Springfield, that number is substantially higher at 10%. A plan to reduce the city’s jobless rate was unveiled Monday at a statewide conference held in Sturbridge.
Springfield Technical Community College and the nearby Futureworks Career Center are involved in the plan.
Rexane Picard of Futureworks said that part of the problem with creating jobs in the area has been that many area job applicants haven’t had the skills that employers are looking for.
“We are chipping away at that number (the city’s unemployment rate), but certainly we hear from the employers’ side, we don’t see the right skills,” Picard said.
Under the plan, Futureworks will communicate with STCC about the kinds of job skills area employers are seeking, and the college will in turn tailor courses to meet these skill demands.
Angela Bellas of STCC said that they are up to the challenge of expanding job opportunities in the city. “We see ourselves as educators being able to build bridges between employers and community members who are currently searching for a job,” Bellas said.
22News had recently reported a similar plan involving Springfield Technical Community College training Spanish-speaking health workers for jobs at the Holyoke Health Center.

© Copyright 2000 – 2012 WWLP-TV.
URL: http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/stcc-futureworks-to-team-up-to-reduce-unemployment-in-springfield

SourceWWLP-TV, Channel 22

Poor Physical Space Compromises Quality

May 10, 2012
Poor Physical Space Compromises Quality
by Irene Sege
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston publishes a quarterly journal, Communities & Banking, which focuses on issues of concern to low- and moderate-income communities. We are pleased that early childhood is on the magazine’s radar screen. The Winter 2012 edition featured a story on the importance of third grade reading and Springfield’s citywide Read! Campaign to improve early literacy in the Western Massachusetts city. Now the Spring 2012 issue features a story – “Infrastructure Investment Begins with Children” – about efforts by the Children’s Investment Fund to improve the physical condition of early education and care facilities in Massachusetts.
Among community-based facilities the fund surveyed for its recent report, 34% had inadequate heating and cooling, 54% lacked indoor active play space, 20% had one or more classrooms without windows, 22% had indoor air with elevated levels of carbon dioxide, 70% had no classroom sinks, 22% lacked workspace for teachers, and 65% lacked technology for teachers.
“Massachusetts, like other states, has invested significant private and public resources in quality improvement for early care and education and out-of-school-time services, particularly for low-income children,” the Fed story notes. “But quality — and the physical infrastructure to support it — is critical to fulfilling the state’s aspirations for these children, and clearly, the resources to fix problems cannot be found in program operating budgets. Children’s Investment Fund has therefore begun to pursue options for improving facility quality, some near term, some longer term. It is working with the business community, public officials, community development organizations, and funders to ensure that early care and education and out-of-school-time programs can make improvements.”
The article, written by Children’s Investment Fund Director Mav Pardee, outlines some of the strategies being pursued to address the problem:
• Ensure that repairs and hazardous conditions are addressed by making small grants available to nonprofit providers.
• Encourage green environments by working with utility companies to address energy efficiency that can generate operating savings and create healthier indoor spaces.
• Work with community development resources to identify capital for ensuring that community infrastructure includes early care and education and out-of-school-time facilities.
• Work with public officials, researchers, and advocates to expand the definition of quality to include the physical plant as the foundation of other quality initiatives related to children’s health, development, and education.
“The issue is so urgent and the potential benefits so high,” Pardee concludes, “that we need to find the public will to create affordable and sustainable financing to improve the buildings where the most vulnerable Massachusetts children spend their childhoods.”
URL: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2012/05/10/poor-physical-space-compromises-quality/

SourceEye on Early Education Blog

New Right of First Refusal Law Preserves Affordable Housing in Cambridge, MA

On February 8th, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) was pleased to celebrate with its preservation partners the dedication of Chapman Arms, a 50-unit building located in Cambridge’s busy Harvard Square, as the first affordable housing to be preserved through the state’s right of first refusal – an important provision of the state’s innovative Chapter 40T law… Click here to read more. https://cedac.org/NewsletterAffHsngMay2012.html

SourceNational Housing Trust Newsletter, May 9, 2012

CEDACNotMentioned: Jamaica Plain’s Jackson Square — its moment has arrived

OPINION
May 08, 2012
Jamaica Plain’s Jackson Square — its moment has arrived
By Paul McMorrow
This weekend, community activists, politicians, and developers will converge on Jackson Square in Jamaica Plain. They will celebrate the imminent emergence of structural steel in the square. The stated reason for this weekend’s party is construction of a 103-unit apartment building. But the celebration is really about the triumph over urban renewal.
For more than 50 years, outdated transportation policy shaped the neighborhoods around Jackson Square. When that steel rises above 225 Centre Street, Jackson Square will finally begin being shaped by something other than a highway. It will be shaped by community development. It will finally get back to being a real place.
Jackson Square was a legitimate square for the first half of the 1900s, with shops and factories standing alongside working-class housing. That ended when city and state transportation planners began pushing plans to run an elevated highway, the Southwest Expressway, through the neighborhood.
Today, the square is more of an intersection than a square. City squares are clusters of buildings and hubs of activity; Jackson Square is the name of an Orange Line station, and also a barren spot where seven lanes of traffic collide with another five.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Boston area was littered with highway construction plans — genuine, if failed, attempts to rescue the city from decades of economic stagnation and declining population. Roxbury and Jamaica Plain bore the brunt of land clearance efforts. Thousands of homes and businesses were razed. Blight radiated from the planned highway routes. Scars in the landscape still run from the Southeast Expressway to Ruggles, and then down to Forest Hills.
Jamaica Plain and Roxbury once met in Jackson Square; now, they’re separated by a vacant, impassable no-mans land. Highway clearance imposed an architecture that continues to promote economic disinvestment.
The new apartment building at the corner of Centre and Columbus — 225 Centre Street — is the first phase of a decade-long, $250 million effort to rebuild Jackson Square. The whole effort will re-knit Jamaica Plain to Roxbury.
A straight line runs from the early anti-highway activism in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, through the construction of the Orange Line, and to the contemporary redevelopment of Jackson Square. At all three stages of the 50-year effort, local activists formed broad coalitions, engaged in proactive planning, and knew that saying no wasn’t good enough. The activists won because they didn’t just oppose poor land use — they articulated an alternative vision.
Early on, they demanded the same sort of highway more powerful Boston neighborhoods were getting — subsurface, not elevated. That morphed into calls to mothball the highway altogether, in favor of mass transit in the form of the Orange Line, and public open space that became Southwest Corridor Park.
Neighborhood activists have been guiding the current redevelopment effort for more than a decade — ever since Kmart tried building on a vacant lot in Jackson. The community rallied together, opposed the big-box development, and then sketched out exactly what it wanted built instead. The neighborhoods drew up plans for their own redevelopment, and then put the concept out to bid. Three non-profit builders — the Community Builders, Urban Edge, and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation — answered the bell. But these builders are just vessels carrying a larger, community-directed vision.
Looking back at the Kmart battle, Bart Mitchell, CEO of The Community Builders, says, “It would have been a shame, to have not taken advantage of this part of the city.” Instead of settling for any building, the neighborhood held out for transformative development. And now, 50 years since the bulldozers began rolling in, and 25 years after the Orange Line opened, Jackson Square’s moment has arrived.
Mitchell’s development at 225 Centre will mix retail and community uses with subsidized and market-rate housing. It will embody the diversity of the neighborhoods around it, and, he hopes, set a marker for the redevelopment work to follow. “I’m not necessarily an advocate for things going slowly,” Mitchell says, “but I like when they get done right.”
Paul M. McMorrow is an associate editor at CommonWealth Magazine. His column appears regularly in the Globe.

URL: http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/05/08/jamaica-plain-jackson-square-its-moment-has-arrived/nRmi9zu6plxgObnS4C92gO/story.html
© 2012 The New York Times Compan

SourceBoston Globe Opinion Section

Hilltown CDC loan key to affordable housing grant

Monday, April 30, 2012
Hilltown CDC loan key to affordable housing grant
By THE DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
Staff Writer

CHESTERFIELD – The Hilltown Community Development Corporation took a step toward obtaining a $2.4 million housing grant last week when it was awarded a $75,000 pre-development loan from the Boston-based Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation.
Hilltown CDC’s housing director, Paul Lishcetti, said landing the loan is key to being able to apply for a grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development for housing developments in Williamsburg and Chesterfield.
“We are just crossing our fingers that we get the grant, ” he said.
The assistance corporation is a community development finance institution that provides technical assistance and loans to non-profits for housing.
Before pursuing the grant from the state, the Hilltown agency must provide pre-development specifications such as architectural, technical and legal information. The $75,000 will fund this research.
The money will be used in part to help create five units for homeless households, including the first three units in the Hilltown region specifically reserved for homeless families and two units for homeless veterans. “There is a four-unit rental property on South Street in Haydenville that we are interested in buying,” Lishcetti, said. “The other properties that will be remodeled or rehabilitated are 13 South Main St., and 148 Main St. in Haydenville, and 12 Williams St. in Williamsburg. Each of those properties has three rental units.
Lishcetti said the CDC also hopes to add a unit to a building at 397 Main Road in Chesterfield which currently has 7 units.
Lishcetti said his agency has seen a marked increase in people with lower incomes over the past few years who are in danger of becoming homeless.
“More people are now in need of lower-income housing. Prior to 2008, I have no recollection of people coming in and saying they are about to be foreclosed on,” he said. “We are also seeing a lot more homeless vets that we are renting to.”
Over the last several years, the Hilltown agency has developed 17 new or rehabilitated homes in the Hilltowns. The agency owns 30 units of rental housing in the Hilltowns including apartments in renovated buildings in Haydenville, Williamsburg, Chesterfield and Huntington.
“Many people think that there really is no problem with homelessness in the Hilltowns because people typically end up in shelters in other towns like Northampton or in other communities,” he said. “This is all part of an effort to help the people with the greatest needs in the Hilltowns.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2011
URL: http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/04/30/hilltown-cdc-loan-key-to-affordable-housing-grant

SourceDaily Hampshire Gazette

Foreclosed Fall River property becomes homes for low-income residents

April 17, 2012
Foreclosed Fall River property becomes homes
for low-income residents
By Deborah Allard
FALL RIVER —People have started moving into the new Eagle Community Care Estates, a rehabilitated 17-unit complex of permanent affordable housing created specifically for veterans, homeless families and people with low income.
The Eagle Street property had been in foreclosure. Community Care Services refurbished the complex, providing residences for people in need while preventing further blight in the neighborhood.
“A lot of people need housing,” said Thomas Fisher, president and CEO of Community Care Services. The Taunton-based social service agency offers behavioral health services, residential programs for foster children, housing placement and more. Ppening an affordable housing complex is a brand new endeavor — a project outside the norm for an agency such as Community Care Services.
“This is a long time coming,” Fisher said. “This is a very different world than social services.”
Community Care Services partnered with the Women’s Institute to learn more about housing and economic development. Then it became involved with Community Economic Development Assistant Corporation for funding — the same company that worked with St. Dominic’s Apartments and is currently working with the YMCA to create affordable housing.
“This was an interesting program,” said Roger Herzog, executive director of CEDAC. “We encourage these partnerships. It’s really rare to have one organization who can do it all.”
The new Eagle Community Care Estates cost about $3.5 million. It is made up of three buildings with a common courtyard. It offers remodeled two- and three-bedroom units, and will have an on-site case manager to work with residents who need various services.
Tenants will pay 30 percent of their income. Veterans will be given preference for eight of the 17 units, while the remainder will house Fall River residents and homeless families.
“This is really an important program for Fall River,” Herzog said.
Dave Souza|Herald News
The property at 159 Eagle St. has been renovated for use as residences for low-income residents.
Funding and help came from a variety of sources, including CEDAC, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing, the Home Funders, Bridgewater State Bank, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Franklin Square House Foundation, Charlesbank Homes Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the city of Fall River.
Fisher said Community Care Services has provided a shelter program in Attleboro for the past 25 years. Ten years ago, it became involved in ways to prevent homelessness. “The need is just amazing,” Fisher said.
He said Community Care Services will be able to provide housing for tenants who were homeless or in jeopardy of losing their homes, and can also offer them other services, like education, employment, and substance abuse programs.
“They can put down roots,” Fisher said. “It will allow them to establish goals.”
For information about Eagle Community Care Estates and an application for housing, visit or call 508-821-7777.
Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.
URL: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x304762707/Foreclosed-Fall-River-property-becomes-homes-for-low-income-residents#ixzz1sOrKoNRJ
Copyright 2012 The Herald News. Some rights reserved

SourceThe Herald News

Second Expiring-Use Development Preserved As Affordable Housing In Cambridge

Friday, April 13, 2012, 11:10am
Second Expiring-Use Development Preserved As Affordable Housing In Cambridge
By Colleen M. Sullivan
The former Norstin Apartments near Central Square in Cambridge will be preserved as affordable housing through an $8 million deal between the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), the city of Cambridge, and Cambridge-based housing non-profit Just A Start Corp.
The 4-story property lies between Bishop Allen Drive and Norfolk Street in Cambridge, has 32 two- and three-bedroom units, and will be renamed the Bishop Allen Apartments in the wake of the purchase. The city was particularly anxious to preserve it since demand for affordable housing with multi-bedroom units considerably outstrips supply, sources familiar with the project told Banker and Tradesman.
“[Cambridge] is really committed to making sure their affordable housing is preserved over the long-term,” Roger Herzog, CEDAC’s executive director, told Banker and Tradesman.
CEDAC provided a loan in the amount of $4.3 million. The Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust provided approximately $4,000,000. The city of Cambridge added additional funds to cover carrying costs and predevelopment expenses.
The apartments are the second expiring-use project to be preserved in Cambridge. Earlier this year, the city and CEDAC, along with Homeowner’s Rehab Inc. were also involved in a deal to preserve the Chapman Arms in Harvard Square.
Both deals demonstrate the impact of the 40T statute passed by the state in 2009, Herzog argues. The law gives the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) the right of first refusal when a project that had been affordable housing is eligible to be sold or converted to market rate. The Chapman Arms project was the first where DHCD exercised that right.
“It’s two ways that 40T is working. In Chapman [Arms], we saw it work under the provision that allows DHCD to exercise a right of first refusal. In Norsten, we see an alternative approach,” said Herzog. The owners of the Bishop Allen buildings, aware that the city of Cambridge wanted to preserve the property as affordable housing, sought out the non-profit Just A Start himself and pitched the project to them.
Since putting it in Just A Start’s hands would preserve affordability, he was able to obtain an exemption from review of the sale by DHCD, Herzog said. “Either way, the project is preserved as affordable housing,” he added. “40T is making an impact.”
URL: http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/news149559.html
Banker & Tradesman ©2012 All Rights Reserved

SourceBanker & Tradesman

Second Expiring-Use Development Preserved As Affordable Housing In Cambridge

Friday, April 13, 2012, 11:10am
Second Expiring-Use Development Preserved As Affordable Housing In Cambridge
By Colleen M. Sullivan
The former Norstin Apartments near Central Square in Cambridge will be preserved as affordable housing through an $8 million deal between the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), the city of Cambridge, and Cambridge-based housing non-profit Just A Start Corp.
The 4-story property lies between Bishop Allen Drive and Norfolk Street in Cambridge, has 32 two- and three-bedroom units, and will be renamed the Bishop Allen Apartments in the wake of the purchase. The city was particularly anxious to preserve it since demand for affordable housing with multi-bedroom units considerably outstrips supply, sources familiar with the project told Banker and Tradesman.
“[Cambridge] is really committed to making sure their affordable housing is preserved over the long-term,” Roger Herzog, CEDAC’s executive director, told Banker and Tradesman.
CEDAC provided a loan in the amount of $4.3 million. The Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust provided approximately $4,000,000. The city of Cambridge added additional funds to cover carrying costs and predevelopment expenses.
The apartments are the second expiring-use project to be preserved in Cambridge. Earlier this year, the city and CEDAC, along with Homeowner’s Rehab Inc. were also involved in a deal to preserve the Chapman Arms in Harvard Square.
Both deals demonstrate the impact of the 40T statute passed by the state in 2009, Herzog argues. The law gives the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) the right of first refusal when a project that had been affordable housing is eligible to be sold or converted to market rate. The Chapman Arms project was the first where DHCD exercised that right.
“It’s two ways that 40T is working. In Chapman [Arms], we saw it work under the provision that allows DHCD to exercise a right of first refusal. In Norsten, we see an alternative approach,” said Herzog. The owners of the Bishop Allen buildings, aware that the city of Cambridge wanted to preserve the property as affordable housing, sought out the non-profit Just A Start himself and pitched the project to them.
Since putting it in Just A Start’s hands would preserve affordability, he was able to obtain an exemption from review of the sale by DHCD, Herzog said. “Either way, the project is preserved as affordable housing,” he added. “40T is making an impact.”
URL: http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/news149559.html
Banker & Tradesman ©2012 All Rights Reserved

SourceBanker & Tradesman