Baker-Polito Administration to Help With Funding to Affordable Housing Development

Gov. Charlie Baker announced a plan to create or preserve 1,420 rental units, including 1,334 affordable units, across 16 Massachusetts communities on August 15.

The Department of Housing and Community Development awarded $31 million in state and federal low-income housing tax credits, which are expected to generate more than $218 million in equity, for the 26 projects to create or preserve the units, Baker’s office said in a press release. The state is also awarding the projects more than $59 million in housing subsidy funds.

“Projects will serve a wide variety of constituents, including individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness, persons with disabilities and the elderly,” the release read. “Four projects are focused on senior housing, five will provide supportive services to residents and all 26 will include deeply affordable units. Reflecting the Baker-Polito Administration’s commitment to creating more housing units for homeless residents, the administration prioritized applications that included a 10 percent allotment for individuals and families who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless,” it continued.

Baker and state officials made the announcement at 48 Boylston St., the site of a “historic rehabilitation project for formerly homeless residents,” which was sponsored by St. Francis House and the Archdiocese of Boston’s Planning Office for Urban Affairs, the release read.

Baker said that that housing awards reflect his administration’s commitment to a stronger, more prosperous and more inclusive Commonwealth.

“By increasing affordable housing production and stabilizing working families, low-income senior citizens and homeless families or those at risk, these housing awards will strengthen communities across Massachusetts,” Baker said in a statement.

Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash called affordable housing productions a “catalyst for broad-based neighborhood revitalization efforts.”

“By connecting working families and at-risk populations to stable, affordable housing, we will ensure that Massachusetts remains a place where people succeed and businesses flourish,” Ash said in a statement.