Housing News

In an editorial published on June 25, The Boston Globe strongly endorsed a bill (H.1859) before the Massachusetts legislature to reform the state's Zoning Act.  The editorial describes key elements of the bill, including incentives for municipalities to approve well-planned development.  Zoning reform is one of CHAPA's legislative priorities for 2013.  For the text of the bill, click

The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) issued its 2013 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for affordable rental housing developments today.  Available resources include up to 100 project-based  "value" vouchers under the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) and up to 100 project-based vouchers under the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.  Applications must be submitted by August 2.  Eligibility is limited to projects approved by DHCD through its pre-application proces

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard is hosting a live webcast release of its 2013 State of the Nation's Housing report on Wednesday, June 26 at noon. The event will be hosted by NPR reporter Chris Arnold,  and viewers will be able to ask questions via Twitter and email.  Other participants will include Eric Belsky (Joint Center), Eileen Fitzgerald (NeighborWorks), George McCarthy ( Ford Foundation) and Debra Still (Mortgage Bankers Association).  For more information or to watch the live webcast at noon, click here.

Joseph Smith, the monitor for the National Mortgage Settlement agreement, has found that major servicers are failing to fully comply with the mortgage servicing standards.   As detailed a June 19th press release by the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight, recent tests of five of the nation's largest banks found that four  - including Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo -  failed at least one of the 29 metrics used to measure compliance.  The most common problem was failure to notify ho

 This power point presentation was delivered by Dr. Chris Foote, Senior Economist and Policy Advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, at CHAPA’s June 3 forum. Please click here to view it..

Financing will support 318 units of affordable housing in Boston, Centerville, Haverhill, Paxton, Westhampton and Worcester BOSTON – June 12, 2013 – MassHousing and the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced $9.3 million in Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) loan closings today for affordable housing communities in Boston, Centerville, Haverhill, Paxton, Westhampton and Worcester.

Boston – June 14, 2013 – Culminating Commonwealth Housing Week and continuing the Patrick Administration’s commitment to improving housing infrastructure to support growth and opportunity throughout the state, the Department of Housing and Community Development today announced $25.8 million in affordable housing resources and tax credits for nine developments in seven communities. In all, the nine projects across Massachusetts will create 694 units of housing and an estimated 600 construction jobs.

Housing Week Twitter Town Hall Friday, June 14, 2013 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. EST Hosted by @Mass_Consumer and @MA_DHCD #MAhousingweek The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development invite homeowners, industry leaders, advocates, and the general public to participate in a Twitter Town Hall surrounding housing issues.

GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES MASSACHUSETTS HOME OWNERSHIP COMPACT Proclaims June 10-16, Commonwealth Housing Week

For Immediate Release - June 05, 2013 Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki today announced the formation of a new Multi-Family Advisory Committee, which will advise the Department of Housing and Community Development on how to build broader support for multi-family housing. This announcement continues the Patrick Administration’s work in building a coalition of leaders committed to creating more housing in Massachusetts.