• The Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA) program's funding increased by 50% from $2 million in FY19 to $3 million in FY20. Additional funding will support new businesses, new jobs and the overall increased economic stability in neighborhoods and towns across the Commonwealth. To learn more about the program and the powerful results for which it's noted, go to MGCC's website;
• Chapter 206 funding available to the Division of Banks was increased by 40% to $2.805 million. This program supports nonprofit housing counseling services that provide homebuyer education and foreclosure prevention counseling;
• Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative: A new $750,000 capacity-building program through MassHousing and MassDevelopment, in coordination with MACDC and MassINC. This program will help local governments and community partners implement neighborhood-level revitalization efforts to address vacant and abandoned properties in Gateway cities and rural areas and convert these buildings into homeownership opportunities and rental housing.  Check out the study released this past January by MassINC and MACDC "Building Communities of Promise and Possibility" upon which this recommendation was drawn;
• CPA Trust Fund: Most recording fees at the Registries of Deeds will be increased from $20 to $50, which would raise an estimated $36 million in additional annual revenue for CPA beginning in 2020, and increase the CPA match for all 175 CPA communities to approximately 30%. The Conference Committee also agreed to language that will authorize up to $20 million from the state's budget surplus to expand the November 2019 distribution. CPA exclusively supports the creation of affordable housing, preservation of historical sites, open space preservation, and development of recreational facilities.

On July 9, Governor Baker, joined by Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development Janelle Chan, and MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay, announced $86 million in new funding to expand the Administration's Workforce Housing Initiative, including $60 million to support homeownership and help to narrow the racial homeownership gap. About 500 new workforce homes, i.e. affordable housing that would be in close proximity to the workplace, for moderate-income, first-time homebuyers will be created, along with an additional 260 new workforce rental units. 

On July 18, Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the Barriers to Homeownership Working Group, in a partnership with the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), worked to create the ONE+Boston mortgage program, which will be launched this fall. The new program, offered by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP), is intended to make progress on the original ONE Mortgage program and aims to permanently buy down interest rates for first-time home buyers earning less than $90,000 in a two-person household, which in turn will create more opportunities for low- to middle-income families to buy a home.

The Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) has announced that Eastern Bank has renewed its commitment to the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program by pledging $250,000 in grants to participating Massachusetts Community Development Corporations (CDCs). The announcement was made by Quincy Miller, Vice Chair and President of Eastern Bank, at the 10^th Anniversary Celebration of the Mel King Institute on June 25^th at the Boston Park Plaza. Eastern Bank was the Presenting Sponsor of the event. This is the fourth consecutive year the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation is awarding grant funding to the CITC program. Since the inception of Eastern Bank’s participation in the program in 2016, the bank will have contributed more than $1 million in grants to organizations participating in the CITC program.

In 2018, Certified CDCs in Massachusetts, which include all organizations participating in the CITC program, accomplished the following:

• Homes Built or Preserved: 1,535
• Job Opportunities Created or Preserved: 4,305
• Entrepreneurs Provided Technical Assistance: 1,369
• Families Supported with Housing, Jobs or Other Services: 84,224
• Community Leaders Engaged: 1,910
• Investment in Local Communities: $801.5 million.

“Affordable housing and community development create pathways to prosperity, and Eastern Bank is committed to standing alongside the leaders and organizations advocating for these issues,” said Miller. “Thank you to the CDCs who are doing incredible work in Boston and across the Commonwealth in creating new opportunities for all, and congratulations to the Mel King Institute on celebrating 10 years of leading our neighborhoods in community building.”

The CITC program provides a 50% refundable state tax credit for donations of $1,000 or more to participating CDCs.  Because the donation is refundable, organizations, such as foundations and donor advised funds, can support CDCs across Massachusetts through the program as well as individuals and businesses. CDCs can apply for an Eastern Bank grant at www.easternbank.com/foundation.