Foreclosed properties have had a negative impact in communities across the Commonwealth from Cape Cod to Western Massachusetts, and in many cases have led to the destabilization of entire neighborhoods. In response to foreclosure crisis, CHAPA launched the Massachusetts Foreclosed Properties Initiative in February 2009 which became fully operational in July 2009. This statewide program assists communities in acquiring foreclosed properties and rehabilitating these properties into homes for low- and moderate-income families.
Program Goals
CHAPA designed the Massachusetts Foreclosed Properties
Initiative in coordination with the Patrick-Murray Administration and a
board-based advisory committee that includes non-profit housing organizations,
municipal representatives and funders.
The program’s partners include over 70 organizations that have been
selected to participate in the program based on their track record of building
and managing affordable housing. The
program operates in the 39 National Stabilization Program communities
throughout the state. The goals of the program are to:
Stabilize neighborhoods by reducing vacant and abandoned units;
Provide affordable housing opportunities—both homeownership and rental—to low and moderate income residents;
Stabilize neighborhoods by reducing vacant and abandoned units and by providing important property tax revenues to municipalities.
Help responsible renters who are living in foreclosed properties avoid eviction and displacement;
Ensure that the sale of foreclosed properties is done in a sustainable manner that does not set the stage for a future cycle of foreclosures and property decline.
For more information, please contact Geeta Rao at
617-742-0820 or via email at grao@chapa.org.
Please click here to view the press release from March 16, 2009 announcing the program.