Fall 2016 Newsletter

Massachusetts to Build on Supportive Housing Success

As you may have seen in a recent Banker and Tradesman op ed by CEDAC’s executive director Roger Herzog, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has enjoyed considerable success in producing supportive housing units.  As outlined in a recent interagency working group report, the state has produced more than 1,750 new units of supportive housing in just three years. And by doing so, it has helped to stabilize the lives of thousands of formerly homeless families and individuals and strengthened communities across the Commonwealth.

img_2651-corrected

There is additional good news – the Commonwealth will see additional funds from the federal government for production of supportive housing units. In April, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the launch of the National Housing Trust Fund to help states create new housing for extremely low-income individuals. While the fund is modest in its first year, it will still help Massachusetts in its quest to help homeless families and individuals find housing. The initial allocation for Massachusetts from the fund is $3.4 million. The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) issued the notice of funding availability in October, and pre-applications were due on November 21, 2016.

Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Polito have demonstrated their support for affordable housing, and supportive housing in particular. The governor’s capital budget included $1.1 billion for affordable housing production and preservation over the next five years, an 8 percent increase in FY17 and 18 percent increase over the life of the plan, and included an enhancement of resources for supportive housing.

Additionally, in August, the Baker-Polito administration announced funding awards for 26 rental housing projects to create or preserve 1,334 affordable housing units across 16 Massachusetts communities. DHCD provided more than $31 million in state and federal low-income housing tax credits. Additionally, the administration offered more than $59 million in housing subsidy funds, including federal HOME funds and state capital funds, across the 26 projects.

Ten of the 26 funded projects have commitments of CEDAC acquisition and/or predevelopment financing for a cumulative total of over $7.7 million.  These ten projects include two sponsored by Boston CDCs (Southwest Boston CDC and Urban Edge), a Springfield project by Home City Housing, another western Massachusetts project by Hilltown CDC, and The Community Builders’ project in Westport, among others.  We look forward to working with these non-profit developers to complete the predevelopment work and move these important developments into construction.

From the Governor’s YouTube account, see the announcement.

(Pictured above: Governor Charlie Baker with Secretary Marylou Sudders, Secretary Jay Ash, and Undersecretary Chrystal Kornegay at funding announcement event in August).