Two military families will soon be able to put down roots in Worcester and Millbury. Recognizing the need for affordable homeownership opportunities for veterans and military families, Bank of America donated two properties to Project Homefront, an initiative spearheaded by Worcester Community Housing Resources. Project Homefront aims to provide the security and stability of homeownership to families who have served their country.

With their expertise in affordable housing development and rehab, WCHR fully renovated the two homes, transforming them into quality, family-sized housing. They worked with MassHousing to arrange mortgages for eligible buyers. WCHR will sell the homes to eligible families at affordable prices. Buyers will pay 60 percent of the sale price, and WCHR will cover the rest of the cost with a forgivable lien.

For Bank of America, the decision to work with a CDC like Worcester Community Housing Resources came down to shared values. “We share Worcester Community Housing’s commitment to honoring those who’ve served, and their track record of improving the community in meaningful ways made them an ideal partner for the home donations,” said Ed Shea, Bank of America Worcester market president.

This project gives military families the opportunity for homeownership and the stability that comes with putting down roots. After the sacrifices that these families have made in service to the Commonwealth and our country, they deserve nothing less than a place to call home.

MACDC applauds the Baker-Polito Administration’s new Real Estate Leveraging (REAL) Strategy that will use the public’s real estate assets to achieve important public policy goals, in particular the creation of new affordable housing and economic development opportunities.

Last year, candidate Charlie Baker spoke at the MACDC Convention about leveraging the state’s real estate assets to create more housing. Now, Governor Baker is turning that pledge into reality.

We are particularly pleased to see that this proposal emphasizes housing production generally and affordable housing specifically.  This will require a creative, flexible and entrepreneurial approach – precisely what Governor Baker presents with this program.  This approach requires balancing the need to generate revenue with the need to provide land at a price that allows the creation of affordable housing, without using limited public housing subsidies to pay for public land.

MACDC also supports the focus on creating economic development opportunities outside of Greater Boston where housing costs are less expensive, but economic growth has been slower.

MACDC and its members stand ready to partner with the Baker-Polito Administration to transform these under-used public assets into homes and jobs across the Commonwealth.

On September 29th, Urban Edge welcomed Frank Shea as their new Executive Director.  Prior to joining Urban Edge, Frank was the Executive Director of the Olneyville Housing Corporation in Rhode Island for fifteen years.  During this time, Frank grew the organization from two staff to fourteen with an annual operating budget over $1.5 million.