by iwd Tina | Oct 11, 2023 | Housing News
CHAPA applauds the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Massachusetts Legislature for the expansion of the State Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) included in the tax relief legislation signed today by Governor Maura Healey. The State LIHTC is one of the most catalytic tools we have for the production and preservation of affordable housing, creating more homes for people who need them while preventing displacement and promoting fair housing for all.
Several provisions in the legislation signed today are meant to immediately ease housing cost burdens experienced by households with low incomes, seniors, and renters. By expanding the State LIHTC, Massachusetts is investing in the long-term solution of creating the affordable homes that people, our communities, our economy, and the Commonwealth need to thrive. Raising the State LIHTC from $40 million to $60 million per year will support between 600-900 affordable homes each year with the possibility to support more homes with an expansion of additional housing finance programs that can be made possible through housing bond bill legislation.
Created in 1999, the Massachusetts LIHTC program supports public-private partnerships to help create and preserve affordable housing. By leveraging private investment, the state awards tax credits to investors in affordable multifamily rental developments. The state LIHTC has successfully supported the production of more than 25,000 homes, including 21,547 affordable apartments and 4,000 market-rate apartments across the Commonwealth.
Housing is the single best investment we can make for the future of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth needs 200,000 new homes by 2030 to stabilize home prices and rents. Stabilizing prices that are too high for too many means that we need to create homes that are affordable for people with low and moderate incomes. The Administration and Legislature are investing in tools that make it possible to create homes for people across income levels. Expansion of the State LIHTC; increases through the state budget in the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, Alternative Housing Voucher Program, and Public Housing; and new multifamily zoning requirements for communities served by the MBTA bring together the elements needed to create affordable housing. This is the intentionality that is needed to ensure that 20% of new housing production is affordable for households with low and moderate incomes and 10% of new homes are affordable for people with extremely low incomes.
The expansion of the State Low Income Housing Tax Credit is an investment in a strong and healthy future for our residents, our communities, and our Commonwealth.
by iwd Tina | Oct 10, 2023 | Housing News
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) has hired their next Director of Public Policy, Matt Noyes. As CHAPA’s Director of Public Policy, he is responsible for helping develop, direct, and implement the organization’s public policy agenda. Noyes brings a rich history of legislative and coalition-building experience from the nonprofit and government sectors to the role. His work in health and higher education policy, which are critical to thriving communities, complements his housing expertise to bring a holistic perspective to ensure a home for everyone in the communities of their choice in Massachusetts.
“I have been an enormous admirer of CHAPA since I first started as an advocate nearly 20 years ago. I couldn’t be more proud or more excited to be part of the team,” said Noyes. “The issue of housing is one of the most significant challenges facing Massachusetts — one that will have profound implications on the prosperity of our state. The Commonwealth I want to be part of is one where everyone has a safe, affordable, and accessible place to call home in a community where they want to live.”
As Director of Trustee and Government Relations at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Noyes developed and managed the implementation of a legislative-mandated training curriculum for nearly 300 members of the state university and community college boards of trustees. He also convened in-district legislative forums at public colleges and universities to highlight innovative programs, including Open Educational Resources for students and efforts to make higher education more equitable for traditionally minoritized student populations.
At Health Care For All, he managed a 30+ member coalition for the successful passage and enactment of omnibus children’s mental health legislation. Additionally, he led the organization’s policy work around the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Massachusetts and the development of Payment Reform/Cost Control legislation.
At the AIDS Housing Corporation, Matt managed and grew the United Disability Housing Partnership, a coalition of organizations dedicated to expanding housing opportunities for persons living with disabilities across the state. He led grassroots advocacy efforts to increase the Alternative Housing Voucher Program funding and represented AIDS Housing Corporation and United Housing on CHAPA’s Building Blocks coalition.
“CHAPA is so fortunate to have Matt Noyes join our team,” said Rachel Heller, CHAPA’s Chief Executive Officer. “Matt brings tremendous experience in coalition building, policy development, and advocacy. These are the skills needed to develop and implement effective solutions that support the creation and preservation of homes that people and our communities need to thrive.”
Noyes began his career as a staff assistant and legislative correspondent for Congressman Henry Waxman of California. Born and raised in Massachusetts, he holds a master’s degree in history from UMass Amherst and a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in peace and conflict studies from Holy Cross.
by iwd Tina | Oct 6, 2023 | Housing News
The House and the Senate passed Veto overrides that would undo the vetoes by the Governor in the FY2024 budget. CHAPA thanks the Legislature for voting in favor of the housing veto overrides.
Through the Governor’s vetoes, programs like Home & Healthy for Good, Housing Consumer Education Centers (HCECs), and Foreclosure Prevention and Counseling received lower funding than allocated by the legislature with vetoes to remove certain set-asides.
Below is the summary of some critical program vetoes that were overriden by the Legislature:
- Housing Consumer Education and Counseling (HCEC)
This line item veto lowered the funding than the Legislature’s allocation of $9.7 million. The Legislature overrode it to bring the allocation back to $10.4 million as funded originally by the Legislature.
- Home & Healthy for Good (HHG)
This line item veto lowered the funding than the Legislature’s allocation to $6.39 million compared to $8.89 million by the Legislature. The Governor’s veto also removes language that is needed for Mass. Housing and Shelter Alliance’s systems change work to advance solutions to homelessness. The Legislature’s veto override brings the funding to $8.89 million and adds back the language.
- Foreclosure & Housing Counseling
The Governor’s veto removed the language of $1.5 million for the Chapter 206 grants that support foreclosure prevention and housing counseling from the Loan Originator Administration and Consumer Counseling Program line item. The Governor’s budget funded this line item at $1.55 million without any funding for Chap 206 grants. The Legislature’s override brought back the allocation to $3.05 million with the inclusion of $1.5 million for Chapter 206 grants.
by iwd Tina | Oct 6, 2023 | Housing News
Over 300 advocates, neighbors, municipal employees, organizational representatives, and legislators working on affordable housing in their communities joined us virtually on Thursday, October 5th for our Annual Regional Meeting.
CHAPA staff shared information on our legislative and budget priorities, Fair Housing priorities, Municipal Engagement Initiative, and updates on the Multi-family Zoning for MBTA Communities engagement. Participants then broke out into regional sub-groups to share their unique challenges and opportunities across the following regions; Greater Boston, MetroWest, Cape & Islands, South Shore, North Shore/Merrimack Valley, Central Mass/Worcester, Franklin/Hampden/Hampshire Counties, and Berkshires/Western Mass. Participants also provided feedback to CHAPA staff through an interactive polling activity which will help to shape future priorities and activities.
If you were unable to attend, please take a moment to watch the three part Video Recording, review the Event Slide Deck, or read the Key Take-aways.
Please contact Whitney Demetrius, Director of Municipal Engagement, at wdemetrius@chapa.org with any questions.
by iwd Tina | Oct 5, 2023 | Housing News
On Wednesday, Governor Maura Healey
signed into law a long-awaited bill that will provide a range of state tax cuts. Included in the new law is a provision that will increase the spending cap on the state’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program by $20 million annually. This new funding will allow for an additional 10 to15 developments, resulting in between 600 to 900 new homes each year under the current capital budget. Additionally, the new law eliminates the sunset provision on LIHTC, making the program permanent.
Following the House and Senate passing the bill last week,
CHAPA sent a letter that included dozens of other organizations to the Governor urging her to sign the legislation and to increase the LIHTC cap.
Thank you to the Legislature and Governor Healey for taking this important step to increase the production and availability of affordable homes in Massachusetts!
by iwd Tina | Sep 19, 2023 | Housing News
Governor Maura Healey submitted a supplemental budget on September 13th to ensure that Massachusetts closes Fiscal Year 2023 in a balanced financial state. This budget serves multiple purposes, including covering spending deficiencies, supporting new collective bargaining agreements, and providing shelter and services for families experiencing homelessness.
See the Governor’s letter and the budget allocations.
Key points about the supplemental budget include:
- Homelessness Support: The budget proposes using $250 million in one-time resources from the Transitional Escrow Fund to cover ongoing costs related to providing temporary shelter to families experiencing homelessness. This action follows a state of emergency declaration due to increased family homelessness and limited shelter availability. These funds help pay for Emergency Assistance shelter placements, services, and increased school costs (see Line Item 1599-0514 on page 11 of the document)
- Financial Allocation: The budget allocates $2.15 billion gross / $833.3 million net to address spending shortfalls and continue a MassHealth payment strategy that helps manage the impact of reduced COVID-19 reimbursements. A significant portion, $2.11 billion gross / $798.8 million net, is dedicated to MassHealth.
- Policy Corrections: The budget includes several policy corrections related to recent legislation, including changes to the universal free school meals policy, support for municipalities impacted by natural disasters, simplification of a tax credit for small businesses hiring National Guard members, and the elimination of copays for MassHealth members. It also addresses administrative updates and the sunset of daily COVID-19 reporting requirements.
- Collective Bargaining: A separate $200 million reserve is established to fund new collective bargaining agreements between the administration and public employee unions.
The supplemental budget aims to close the books on Fiscal Year 2023 while making necessary policy adjustments and funding allocations.
