Lionel Romain, Former CEDAC Director of Housing for Central & Western MA
In INSITES this week: CEDAC recently celebrated the 15th anniversary and remarkable career of Lionel G. Romain – our outgoing Director of Housing for Central & Western Massachusetts – in the Grand Hall of Union Station in downtown Worcester with Lionel’s colleagues, friends and family.
After 15 years furthering CEDAC’s mission of building strong communities through affordable housing and community economic development, Lionel is shifting his time and focus to consulting work and another of his passions: teaching. As an adjunct member of the Clark University faculty, Lionel’s experience and wisdom is a great asset to that campus and its graduate students studying International Development, Community and Environment.
During his stellar career at CEDAC, Lionel demonstrated and shared every day his comprehensive knowledge of affordable housing finance, as well as mechanisms such as rental subsidies, federal and state housing and community development programs, and low-income housing tax credits.
Lionel was fiercely committed to building stronger communities in the Central and Western regions of Massachusetts – advising community development organizations on project selection, budgeting, and financing.
That commitment enabled CEDAC to grow its impact and deliver early-stage financing for affordable and supportive housing projects to every area of the Commonwealth. Lionel was prolific in the sheer volume of financing deals he helped generate during his career. Altogether Lionel managed our early stage and state bond program loans to 143 housing development projects with 4,027 units of affordable housing. His cumulative lending total to these projects was over $133 million.
Over the past 15 years, Lionel has been one of our best ambassadors for CEDAC, wherever his work took him, and he has been an exemplary role model for all those who value civic engagement and a commitment to building more robust communities.
Lionel will be greatly missed at CEDAC. But the legacy of his fine work continues not just here, but in every community, household, and family that became stronger because of his efforts.
About CEDAC
CEDAC is a public-private community development financial institution that provides project financing and technical expertise for community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts. CEDAC’s work supports two key building blocks of community development: affordable housing and early care and education. CEDAC is also active in state and national housing preservation policy research and development and is widely recognized as a leader in the non-profit community development industry. For additional information on CEDAC and its current projects, please visit www.cedac.org.
