by Jenna Connolly | Nov 6, 2025 | Featured News, Housing News
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) opened applications for its new Massachusetts Housing Leadership Academy, a six-month fellowship designed to empower local officials with the knowledge, skills, and network to create more homes for people of all ages, incomes, and abilities in their communities. With a housing shortage of 222,000 new homes needed by 2035 and local decision-making determining much of the Commonwealth’s development, strengthening the voices of pro-housing municipal leaders will benefit Massachusetts’ communities, people, and economy.
“When we work towards creating more housing in every city and town, teachers, nurses, and firefighters can afford to live near their workplace. People can downsize in the communities they love. College graduates can come home,” said Rachel Heller, CHAPA’s chief executive officer. “The Massachusetts Housing Leadership Academy will prepare local leaders to meet the housing needs of all members of their communities so everyone can thrive.”
CHAPA’s Academy is free and open to: Mayors, City and Town Councilors, Planning and Select Board Members, Finance Committee members, and any members of boards and commissions who can impact housing. The Academy’s curriculum will cover the history and causes of the Commonwealth’s housing shortage, municipal solutions, and strategies for taking those solutions from idea to implementation. Fellows will benefit from monthly virtual workshops with housing experts, monthly cohort meetings, and more.
The Massachusetts Housing Leadership Academy builds upon CHAPA’s proven community engagement model. CHAPA’s Municipal Engagement Initiative, a program supporting local pro-housing coalition-building, has worked in 45 communities since 2018 with groups like Engine 6 in Newton and the Greater Newburyport Housing Choice Coalition. In 2023, CHAPA expanded its reach to offer free technical assistance and community engagement to planners seeking compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. 97% of the 85 communities CHAPA supported have now achieved compliance.
“Proactive, inclusive, and informed community engagement can move the needle on creating more housing opportunities,” said Lily Linke, CHAPA’s director of municipal engagement. “From the Cape to the Berkshires, there are countless elected and appointed local officials who are dedicated to solving their communities’ housing challenges, and the Massachusetts Housing Leadership Academy can provide them with the tools they need to succeed.”
The first fellowship of the Massachusetts Housing Leadership Academy will run from January to June 2026. Those interested in the Academy can apply or nominate an official in their community at bit.ly/MAHousingLeadershipAcademy until December 15, 2025.
by iwd Tina | Nov 7, 2024 | Housing News
Over 400 advocates, neighbors, municipal employees, organizational representatives, and legislators working on affordable housing in their communities registered to join us virtually on October 23rd for our Annual Regional Meeting which this year was hybrid. As Rachel Heller our CEO mentioned in her opening remarks, each year we convene these sessions to thank all of you for the work we have accomplished together and provide a listening space to inform our vital collective work that “plants the seeds for the policies and programs we advocate for”.
During the meeting, CHAPA’s Municipal Engagement and Policy teams shared information on our legislative and budget priorities, Fair Housing agenda, Municipal Engagement Initiative, and updates on the Multi-family Zoning for MBTA Communities engagement. Participants broke out into regional sub-groups to share their unique challenges and opportunities across the following regions; Greater Boston (virtually and in-person at Metro Housing Boston), MetroWest, Cape & Islands, South Shore (including all of southeastern Mass, including all of the towns and cities in Bristol and Plymouth county and the South Coast), North Shore/Merrimack Valley, Central Mass/Worcester, Franklin/Hampden/Hampshire Counties (virtually and in-person at Way Finders), and Berkshires/Western Mass. Participants also provided feedback to CHAPA staff through an interactive polling activity which additionally will help to shape future priorities and activities.
Please take time to review the Key-Takeaways and where helpful we have made the Video Recording, and the Event Slide Deck available. These conversations have a profound impact on our Legislative Priorities and our advocacy efforts at the state and local level.
We appreciate Bank of America for sponsoring these sessions and to all of our regional co-sponsors for not only sharing their experiences and expertise, but also helping with the outreach to make the event such a success! A special thank you to our co-sponsors Way Finders and Metro Housing|Boston for hosting regional sessions in-person.
Regional Co-Sponsors:
Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority
Berkshire Housing
Cape Cod Community Development Partnership
Harborlight Homes
Housing Assistance Corporation
Housing Nantucket
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Regional Housing Services Office
Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP)
Lawrence Community Works
Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC)
Metro Housing|Boston
Metro West Collaborative Development
NeighborWorks Housing Solutions
NewVue Communities
Northern Middlesex Council of Governments
North Shore Community Development Corporation
Way Finders
Sponsor Logo:
Get Involved with CHAPA
Thank you to those who were able to join us. Please continue to support CHAPA’s efforts to keep making a difference in our communities. Be sure to contact Whitney Demetrius, Director of Fair Housing and Municipal Engagement, at [email protected] with any questions.
