Update on Emergency Rental Assistance Programs

As more federal housing relief resources come to Massachusetts, this forum will provide updates on existing relief efforts through the Eviction Diversion Initiative as well as new programs—the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and Subsidized Housing Emergency Rental Assistance (SHERA) program. The forum will share perspectives from different regions of the state, including Boston, Springfield, and the South Shore. 

Learn about how Massachusetts has tripled the amount of emergency housing assistance since January as well as plans to further improve how these resources can help residents and property owners.

Welcome

• Chris Norris, Executive Director, Metro Housing|Boston

Updates on the Eviction Diversion Initiative

• Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development

Emergency Rental Assistance Panel

• Taylor Cain, Director of Housing Innovation, City of Boston
• Rob Corley, CEO, NeighborWorks® Housing Solutions
• Stefanie Coxe, Executive Director, Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts
• Keith Fairey, President & CEO, Way Finders

Subsidized Housing Emergency Rental Assistance Program

• Cynthia Mohammed, Director of Portfolio Management, Massachusetts Housing Partnership

Speaker Bios

Chris Norris: 

Chris Norris has served as the executive director of Metro Housing|Boston since 2007. With a staff of 223 and a $14.3 million operating budget, Metro Housing|Boston connects residents of Greater Boston with safe, decent homes they can afford and administers more than 9,500 rental assistance vouchers. Prior to working at Metro Housing|Boston, Mr. Norris spent 10 years as the assistant director of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), in which he directed their state legislative policy work. Before that, he served as the coordinator of the National Consumer Law Center’s Foreclosure Prevention Program. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Pacific and his JD from the Massachusetts School of Law. He serves on the board of directors of CHAPA, the Massachusetts Community Banking Council, and the Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts.

Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox:

Jennifer Maddox is the Undersecretary of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), a $1.3 billion agency that provides leadership, professional assistance, and financial resources to promote safe, decent affordable housing opportunities, the economic vitality of communities, and services and shelter to homeless populations. Previously, Ms. Maddox served as the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for DHCD. Previously, Ms. Maddox was the Assistant Budget Director for the MA House Ways & Means Committee where she prepared recommendations for the state budget, emergency and capital relief legislation, analyzed budget proposals and policy issues. She is a graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia.

Taylor Cain:

Taylor brings her curiosity about how people move through cities and a commitment to values of inclusion and equity to her role as the Director of the Mayor’s Housing Innovation Lab. She comes to City Hall with expertise in urban sociology and experience engaging different communities in discussions about complex urban issues. Previously she worked throughout graduate school, including a summer as a fellow with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. Taylor received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Boston University in 2019, after spending three years as an ethnographer in community meetings, local businesses, and the homes of Boston residents. 

Rob Corley:

Robert Corley is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NeighborWorks Housing Solutions (NHS), a regional nonprofit housing organization that works to create affordable housing, provide housing resources, and promote homeowner education and now serves more than 11,000 households. Prior to becoming the CEO in 2009, Robert was the Director of Real Estate, overseeing all of the agency’s housing development activities. Robert holds a Master’s degree in Community & Economic Development from SNHU.  Robert has completed Boston University’s Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership Certificate Program and is a graduate of the Achieving Excellence in Community Development program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.   

Stefanie Coxe:

Stefanie Coxe is the Executive Director of the Regional Housing Network of Massachusetts, where she represents the regional non-profits that administer emergency rental and mortgage assistance and other housing programs for the Commonwealth. Through her activism training and political consulting business she organizes campaigns in her home community of Cape Cod for better municipal zoning, and coauthored the report Housing on Cape Cod: The High Cost of Doing Nothing with Housing Assistance Corporation. Stefanie got her start in public policy working for elected officials in the State House and Congress. 

Keith Fairey:

In July of 2020, Keith Fairey began his tenure as president and chief executive officer of Way Finders, a regional housing organization focused on pursuing housing stability and economic mobility outcomes for its clients and communities in Western Massachusetts. Prior to joining Way Finders, Keith was a senior vice president for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. and chief operating officer of the Mount Hope Housing Company in the Bronx. Keith has a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in public finance and financial management from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He also has a Bachelor of Arts in history education from the University of Delaware.

Cynthia Mohammed:

Cynthia Mohammed is the Director of Portfolio Management at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership where she is responsible for overseeing MHP’s growing portfolio of multi-family loans for affordable housing. Mohammed joined MHP in 1998 as a portfolio analyst and has risen steadily throughout her career. Since 2016, she has served as portfolio management’s deputy director. She now oversees a strong and diverse multifamily portfolio that totals $849 million and is expected to surpass $1 billion in the next few years. Prior to MHP, Mohammed was an associate in the audit group at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, where she worked for a variety of public, private, and nonprofit clients. She has a bachelor's degree in public policy from Brown University and has also done graduate work in accounting at USC.