by iwd Tina | Oct 26, 2021 | Housing News
On October 25, 2021, the House Ways and Means Committee and other House leaders released a $3.65 billion plan for spending a majority of the state’s federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fiscal recovery funding. The plan calls for $1.15 billion to come from last year’s budget surplus and the rest to be taken from the state’s ~$5 billion ARPA fiscal recovery funds allocation. This allows for ~$2.4 billion of the State’s ARPA fiscal recovery dollars to remain unspent and be obligated at a later date.
CHAPA thanks Chairman Michlewitz and the members of the House Ways and Means and Federal Stimulus and Racial Equity Oversight Committees for prioritizing $600 million towards affordable housing. Their housing investments are outlined below:
Affordable Housing Investments
The spending plan (H.4219) provides $600 million for supportive housing, public housing, homeownership, and affordable housing production. These investments will provide homeownership aid, housing production, and maintenance, with a focus on developing both affordable housing and supportive housing stock as a much-needed response to ongoing housing instability and homelessness.
A summary of the funding allocation breakdown is provided below:
- $150 million for Supportive Housing Production
- $150 million for Public Housing Maintenance
- $100 million for Homeownership Assistance to help first-time homebuyers
- $100 million for CommonWealth Builder Program to build new affordable homeownership opportunities
- $100 million for Affordable Housing Production
Please see the bill’s language for these affordable housing investments for more details on the programs.
Please see the H.4219 Summary and Text for more information on the bill.
CHAPA’s ARPA Priorities
CHAPA is encouraged to see initial investments in many of CHAPA’s ARPA priorities in the Commonwealth’s initial spending plan. As a reminder, CHAPA and its partners have requested $1.683 billion of the Commonwealth’s ARPA fiscal recovery funds be allocated towards affordable housing.
Please see CHAPA’s ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds Fact Sheet and testimony for more information.
There are still many priorities that need to be considered for the Commonwealth to have the tools it needs to address our housing crisis. We urge the legislature to further consider some of CHAPA’s priorities in its allocation of funding, including the following:
- $100M for Housing Rehabilitation
- $78M for a Statewide Right to Counsel Program
- $50M for Acquisition of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing
- $5M for Tenant Outreach and Assistance
What Comes Next?
The Legislature will now begin debating H.4219 this week. Representatives in the House have until 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 26, to file amendments. CHAPA is working with its partners on potential amendments for the spending package and will follow-up with more details soon, including steps you can take to help strengthen the spending plan for affordable housing.
The House plans to take up the bill and debate it on Thursday afternoon. The Senate is expected to take up the bill shortly thereafter.
CHAPA encourages our partners to continue to contact their State Representatives and Senators and ask them to prioritize CHAPA’s $1.683 billion ARPA priorities for affordable housing. Please see the CHAPA ARPA Advocacy Toolkit for more details.
For any questions about these priorities, please contact Ryan Dominguez at rdominguez@chapa.org or 617-684-4713.
by iwd Tina | Oct 22, 2021 | Housing News
Request for Qualifications
Homeownership Counseling and Foreclosure Prevention Services
for the Massachusetts Homeowner Assistance Fund
The Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) is issuing this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking qualified organizations with an interest in providing regional homeownership counseling and foreclosure prevention services as part of a statewide coverage network in support of the Massachusetts Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) Program.
The Massachusetts HAF Program aims to assist income-eligible Massachusetts homeowners who, due to the impact of COVID-19, have suffered financial hardship (Eligible Homeowners) that is impacting their ability to pay their mortgages and other homeownership-related expenses (Eligible Expenses).
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) became law. Section 3206 created the federal HAF to help Eligible Homeowners with Eligible Expenses. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of the Treasury provided a website announcement, including a Notice of Funds Request, and on April 14, 2021, as amended on August 2, 2021, published Housing Assistance Fund Guidance (Treasury Guidance).
Under the federal HAF program, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through its Executive Office for Administration and Finance (A&F), will receive $178 million to fund the Massachusetts HAF Program. MHP expects to be contracted by A&F to administer the housing counseling and foreclosure prevention portion of the Massachusetts HAF Program, which is anticipated to be supported with up to $8.9 million and is seeking qualified organizations related to the offering of such services.
Request for Qualifications responses (in PDF format) must be submitted no later than 5 p.m., Friday, November 5, 2021, via email to:
Elliot Schmiedl
Director of Homeownership
eschmiedl@mhp.net
David Worsham
Associate Director of Homeownership
dworsham@mhp.net
by iwd Tina | Oct 21, 2021 | Housing News
Hearing on Legislation to Prohibit Discriminatory Zoning & Authorizing Transfer Fees – Tuesday, October 26, 11:00 a.m.
The Joint Committee on Housing will host a virtual hearing on fair housing legislation on Tuesday, October 26, beginning at 11:00 a.m.
This hearing includes two CHAPA legislative priorities:
- H.1373, An Act promoting fair housing by preventing discrimination against affordable housing, & S.867, An Act promoting fair housing by preventing discrimination against affordable housing.These bills would prohibit municipal and state discriminatory zoning bylaws, ordinances, and land use decisions against affordable housing and housing for families with children.
- H.1377 & S.868, An Act empowering cities and towns to support affordable housing with a fee on certain real estate transactions.This legislation would allow cities and towns the opportunity to enact a local transfer fee on real estate transactions in order to support affordable housing.
You can help advance these bills by taking action today! You can submit written testimony to the Housing Committee or testify virtually at the hearing!
Submit Support Letter
You can submit an email or letter as written testimony in support of the bills to the Housing Committee. You can email the testimony directly to Housing Committee staff member, Luke O’Roarke at luke.oroark@mahouse.gov.
Testify Virtually
You can testify at the hearing virtually! To sign up to testify, please fill out this form by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 22.
Fact Sheets, Sample Testimony, & More Information
Questions?
Please contact Eric Shupin, CHAPA’s Director of Public Policy, with any questions at eshupin@chapa.org.
by iwd Tina | Oct 18, 2021 | Housing News
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This once-in-a-generation investment allocated over $5.3 billion in fiscal recovery dollars to Massachusetts.
Housing is the single best investment Massachusetts can make to secure a healthy future for all. These flexible ARPA funds may be used for rent, mortgage, or utility assistance; counseling and legal aid; supportive housing; affordable housing development; and housing vouchers, residential counseling, or housing navigation assistance.
Right now, we have a real opportunity to secure the boldest housing investments to address our housing crisis. There is no telling when this type of opportunity will come again.
To ensure our most vulnerable residents are not left behind as Massachusetts continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, CHAPA kindly requests that the state legislature prioritize $1.683 billion of its total ARPA fiscal recovery funding for the following key housing priorities.
Affordable Rental Housing Production and Preservation
CHAPA recommends $200 million for affordable housing rental production and preservation to ensure families are safe and healthy in their homes and meet the Commonwealth’s goal of creating 200,000 more homes.
These would fund affordable rental housing production and preservation for more homes that are climate resilient, energy efficient, and accessible to disproportionately impacted populations, including BIPOC communities, persons with disabilities, seniors, LGBTQ+ populations, and others.
Housing Rehabilitation
CHAPA recommends $100 million for affordable housing rehabilitation to improve housing quality, accessibility, and long-term resiliency.
These funds would support the rehabilitation and retrofitting of homes to meet the Commonwealth’s climate resiliency and energy-efficiency goals, provide more accessible homes for persons with disabilities, and to improve housing quality and the health of residents by removing hazards like lead paint and mold.
Affordable Homeownership
CHAPA recommends $500 million in total investments to expand and preserve affordable homeownership opportunities to close racial disparities in homeownership. We support the following investments in homeownership:
- Building Homeownership Opportunities: $200 million for the CommonWealth Builder Program and other similar grants and loans to build affordable homeownership opportunities including single-family homes and condominiums that are affordable to households with low- and moderate-incomes, particularly in communities of color.
- Expanding First-Time Homebuyer Resources: $300 million to expand resources for first time homebuyers, including down payment assistance and access to mortgages, focused on residents of disproportionately impacted communities.
Public Housing
CHAPA recommends $450 million for preserving the Commonwealth’s public housing that collectively needs $3 billion in deferred capital repairs and maintenance.
These funds would support capital repairs and improvements of our state Public Housing, much of which is over 50 years old, for long-term preservation of affordable homes for families with low-incomes, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
Acquisition of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing
CHAPA recommends $50 million for property acquisition to create and preserve more permanent affordable homes.These funds will allow residents or communities to acquire un-subsidized, naturally occurring affordable housing being sold or foreclosed upon, providing new opportunities for long-term affordable homes and preventing displacement of residents from their homes and neighborhoods.
Supportive Housing
CHAPA recommends $300 million to create housing with supportive services. These comprehensive investments will build a foundation for economic recovery by expanding access to safe, healthy, and affordable homes with access to services for our most vulnerable residents including individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness families and individuals, seniors, survivors of trafficking or domestic violence, and those with serious behavioral health or substance abuse challenges.
These evidence-based housing investments will help end homelessness through the creation of a flexible spending account for the operating costs for supportive services and the acquisition of hotels, motels, nursing homes, and other forms of temporary housing for the purpose of conversion to permanent, deeply affordable homes.
Housing Stability
CHAPA supports $83 million in total investments for housing stability efforts to prevent evictions and provide access to housing resources for the most vulnerable populations during the pandemic and over the long-term. We support the following investments in housing stability:
- Right to Counsel: $78 million to create a statewide right to counsel program for residents with low incomes facing eviction to be administered by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. The program will prevent evictions for tenants and support owner-occupants of 1- to 3-family homes who are at risk of losing their home.
- Tenant Outreach and Assistance: $5 million for community-based organizations working with residents in disproportionately impacted communities to support outreach efforts about available emergency resources and assist households with applying for housing assistance. This will help prevent evictions and improve the distribution of emergency rental assistance programs.
These investments can immediately begin to be distributed through existing, proven-effective programs to ensure a thriving future for all our people and communities.
As Legislature debates how to use our ARPA fiscal recovery funds, CHAPA urges the State to invest comprehensive resources towards affordable housing as soon as possible.
Please see CHAPA’s ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds Fact Sheet and testimony for more informmation.
For any questions about these priorities, please contact Ryan Dominguez at rdominguez@chapa.org or 617-684-4713.
by iwd Tina | Oct 13, 2021 | Housing News
CHAPA is pleased to announce that we have issued a Request for Proposals for our new Neighborhood Emergency Housing Support program. This one time grant program is aimed at supporting the on the ground, community based organizations in their effort to assist members in their community in learning about and applying for the emergency housing assistance made available through State and Federal Funding.
Neighborhood and community based organizations meeting the criteria outlined in the RFP are encouraged to submit an application.
Applicants must submit an electronic copy of the application to Maritza Crossen at mcrossen@chapa.org by 5 PM on Monday, November 1, 2021.
To learn more about the grant opportunity and to obtain an application, please visit our page on the CHAPA website. Please feel free to share this opportunity with any groups you think may qualify.
