Housing News

The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday advanced a pandemic policy extension bill S.2467, that would continue many of the pandemic-era policies beyond the June 15th, end of the COVID-19 state of emergency. It includes some changes and extensions to the eviction prevention law passed in Dec 2020 — Chapter 257 of the Acts of 2020 — that established certain eviction prote

The state’s COVID-19 emergency declaration is set to end on June 15. The Legislature is working on extending some pandemic-era policies beyond the state of emergency that would otherwise expire without legislative action. The State Senate is expected to take up legislation on June 10 with the Massachusetts House taking up legislation soon after. The State Senate has indicated that it will work to extend emergency flexibilities for town meetings, including around quorum thresholds and remote participation in representative town meetings.

Testimony is available in PDF form. You can also watch the full hearing video.   June 3, 2021 Testimony of CHAPA Chief Executive Officer, Rachel Heller Joint Committee on Housing Virtual Informational Hearing

On May 27th, the Massachusetts Senate concluded debate on its FY2022 state budget proposal. The budget includes strong investments in CHAPA’s affordable housing priorities. The House proposed increases for Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), Alternative Housing Voucher Program, Public Housing, Housing Consumer Education Centers, and DMH Rental Subsidies.

On May 11th, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its state budget proposal for FY2022. CHAPA thanks Senate President Karen Spilka, Sen.

The 21st consecutive (and 1st virtual) Affordable Housing Development Competition drew to a close with the recent announcement that Lancaster Commons, a proposal for a multi-phased, mixed-use project with 48 affordable rental units that aims to rehabilitate and reactivate an underutilized rural site of historic significance in Lancaster, received the first-place prize.

On May 11, 2021, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its FY2022 state budget proposal. The proposal provides increased funding for many of CHAPA's affordable housing budget priorities, including for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, the Alternative Housing Voucher Program, Public Housing, Housing Consumer Education Centers, and DMH rental subsidies.

On May 5, 2021, D.C. District Judge Dabney Friedrich vacated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) federal eviction moratorium, which was set to expire on June 30, 2021. The federal judge ruled that the Public Health Service Act did not give the CDC the legal authority to impose the moratorium.

On April 23, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) posted proposed amendments to the 2021-2022 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). The proposed amendments are to reflect the affordable housing funding competitions for 2021 and to change competitive scoring requirements related to development teams and minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) policies, practices, and procurement.

During the early hours of April 29, the Massachusetts House of Representatives concluded debate on its FY2022 state budget proposal. The budget includes strong investments in CHAPA’s affordable housing priorities. The House proposed increases for Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), Alternative Housing Voucher Program, Public Housing, Housing Consumer Education Centers, the Tenancy Preservation Program, and DMH Rental Subsidies.