Equitable Housing
Homeownership and affordable housing are important stepping stones to wealth building for families. Across Greater Boston, Black and Latino adults are not only more likely to rent than own, but they are also more likely to be cost-burdened. One-third of Black and Latino homeowners and more than half of Black and Latino renters are housing cost-burdened.
Our 2022 Annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card also revealed that home prices have reached unprecedented heights and rents have continued to rise in tandem. There is a dire need to build more housing in the region and in a way that can advance housing equity. Developers of color are underrepresented in the real estate industry, which contributes to the racial wealth gap and hinders the ability to build much-needed affordable housing projects that are responsive to community needs.
Supporting emerging developers of color and community-based efforts to increase affordable housing can reduce racial disparities and repair the harm caused by housing discrimination and historical race-based housing policies.
What You’ll Support: Organizations developing new products for emerging developers and developers of color, increasing the supply of housing in key transit corridors, and ensuring community stewardship of land to preserve long-term housing affordability.
Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF)
What will my DAF funds support?
LEAF’s lending to community land trusts, which are nonprofit community-based organizations designed to ensure community stewardship of land. Funds will be used for acquisition loans and bridge financing to expand the number of permanently affordable housing and community spaces in Greater Boston.
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Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF) is a Boston-based non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with a focus on community-owned natural food cooperatives, low-income cooperative housing developments, community land trusts, and worker-owned firms and other community-based enterprises.
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LEAF’s focus on worker-owned cooperatives directly supports community wealth building and elevates underrepresented voices. Worker-owned cooperatives are values-driven businesses that are owned and self-managed by its workers, which allow for high-quality jobs and community wealth building. Approximately half of LEAF’s lending activity has been to minority-owned enterprises in the last several years (50% in 2020 and 42% in 2021). Additionally, LEAF has a diverse management team, with its senior leadership team made up entirely of individuals of color and nearly half of its board representing people of color.
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Financed 261 affordable housing units in 2020-21
46% of loans to minority-owned businesses
68% of loans to businesses serving a low-to-moderate income population
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100% on-time payment track record to its investors
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Santander Bank
Cooperative Foundation
Wells Fargo
CDFI Fund
Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp.
Department of Agriculture
LEAF In Action | Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Boston, MA)
Since 1984, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) has been making strides to create thriving, affordable communities in Boston’s Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods through its community-controlled land trust. DSNI owns and operates more than 30 acres of land with 227 units of affordable housing, an urban farm, a greenhouse, commercial buildings, and parks through its land trust. They also run community farms and greenhouses and provide programs for the arts, youth and education, and homelessness prevention. Run by resident-elected a board of directors, DSNI continues to build out its vision for a thriving community where they could organize, plan for, and create the changes they want to see in their neighborhoods.
LEAF’s relationship with DSNI started with a line of credit to help with their cash flow management. This relationship has grown and deepened since, first through financing for working capital, and today, through partnerships for our local work in the Boston neighborhoods. Through stakeholder engagement, community organizing, lending, and technical assistance, LEAF is working alongside DSNI and the Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network (GBCLTN) to increase community land trust development and engagement in Greater Boston.
Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC)
What will my DAF funds support?
Reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in housing development and help grow the supply of affordable housing in the region by growing the capacity of emerging developers of color. Funds will support MHIC in making acquisition, pre-development and construction loans to these developers in Greater Boston to grow their capacity to take on affordable housing projects and catalyze additional investment.
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MHIC is a MA-based CDFI that provides innovative financing for affordable housing and community development throughout New England by lending to affordable housing developers and small businesses and facilitating investments into community development via tax credits.
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MHIC’s theory of change directly speaks to systemic and structural economic and racial disparities. In addition to a dedicated focus on financing minority-owned businesses and emerging developers of color, MHIC has a dedicated Director of Racial Equity and Community Engagement and includes specific racial equity and inclusion goals in annual business planning. It is one of two Black-led CDFIs in Massachusetts and has a highly diverse staff (46% of staff and 57% of management are people of color). MHIC has also worked to push for practices that support greater racial equity and inclusion within the larger affordable housing and community development industry, including for example, building and maintaining a database of MBE contractors and vendors to which it can disseminate bid notifications.
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To date, MHIC has raised over $3.6 billion from over 175 investors to support community development financing.
Financed 22 developments for a total of $134.3 million in 2021
Preserved or created 987 homes in 2021
Provided nearly 688,000 square feet of community and commercial space in 2021
Directed $116M in contract value to MBEs in MHIC-financed developments in 2021
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100% on-time payment track record to its investors
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Bank of America
State Street
Freddie Mac
US Bank
Brookline Bank
Kresge Foundation
TBF
MHIC In Action | Norfolk Design and Construction (Boston, MA)
MHIC is providing a working capital line of credit to Norfolk Design and Construction, a veteran-owned contractor and developer and minority business enterprise (MBE), to cover pre-development costs for affordable home ownership projects for the City of Boston’s Neighborhood Homes Initiative and to support business expansion. The funds will allow Norfolk Design and Construction to move ahead initially with six affordable home ownership condos in Dorchester, MA where there are long applicant waiting lists, with more to come. Home ownership brings the opportunity for wealth creation to families for whom it would otherwise be out of reach. President Adler Bernadin and Vice President and co-founder Duane Boyce also plan to hire two project managers and one superintendent to help manage the growing business. MHIC looks forward to financing more of Norfolk’s impactful affordable homes.
Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP)
What will my DAF funds support?
Reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in housing development and help grow the supply of affordable housing in the region by lending to affordable housing developers of color in Boston. Funds will also be used to expand MHP’s working capital line of credit program, enabling MHP to lend to emerging developers, including developers of color, at more favorable terms to grow their capacity to take on affordable housing projects and catalyze additional investment.
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MHP is a statewide, nonprofit quasi-public organization that works with communities to create innovative policy and financing solutions that provide affordable homes and better lives for the people of Massachusetts. MHP’s work is focused in four main areas: helping communities build more affordable housing through technical assistance, financing rental development, helping low- and moderate-income families buy their first home, and analyzing MA housing data. In recent years, MHP has also placed a strong focus on promoting and advancing racial equity in affordable housing, acknowledging a responsibility to take action to remedy the effects of decades of racist policies, programs and activities that have perpetuated racial inequities in Massachusetts.
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Since 1985, addressing racial and economic inequities has been at the core of MHP’s mission. MHP’s ONE Mortgage program was designed to eliminate racial bias in mortgage lending and has enabled more than 10,000 low-income households of color to become homeowners. MHP’s financing and technical assistance has resulted in thousands of affordable housing units being built in communities throughout Massachusetts and given more choices to households of color about where to live, work and raise children. MHP’s analysis and public testimony has called out communities with restrictive zoning that excludes new residents by race and income. MHP’s current goals include reaching 1,500 new households of color with its first-time homebuyer program, increasing the supply of affordable housing with an emphasis on sustainability in Environmental Justice communities, and expanding its financing and technical assistance for emerging affordable housing developers led by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.
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MHP’s multifamily loan programs have provided more than $1.6 billion in low-cost financing, supporting the new development and preservation of over 28,000 rental units.
More than 75% of all MHP-financed units are rent restricted from 30% to 80% of AMI.
Over the past two years, 100% of MHP’s borrowers were satisfied or very satisfied with their MHP borrowing experience.
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100% on-time payment track record to its investors
A+ credit rating from S&P
MHP’s multifamily loan programs have had no delinquencies or loan losses since their inception in the early 1990s.
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Bank of America
Barr Foundation
East Boston Savings Bank
The Hyams Foundation
Santander Bank
TBF
TD Bank
Webster Bank
MHP In Action | North Shore Community Development Corporation, Inc. (Salem, MA)
In 2019, MHP provided a $500,000, two-year working capital line of credit to the North Shore Community Development Corporation (NSCDC) to support its affordable housing development efforts. NSCDC serves North Shore communities and has a proven record of creating housing that strives to improve the quality of life in low-income or distressed neighborhoods, currently serving over 900 residents in 400 affordable apartments. The largest portion of NSCDC’s portfolio is in a densely populated 195-acre neighborhood, home to over 4,000 residents, over 60 percent of which are Latinx. Proceeds from the MHP line of credit have supported predevelopment expenses related to a new mixed-use, mission-driven redevelopment project in the Point Neighborhood, including 50 affordable housing units, public art, and community health resources. Beyond housing, NSCDC has expanded neighborhood services including ESL classes, financial literacy services, first‐time homebuyer training and a Youth Build chapter that provides skills and academic training to teenagers to prepare them for full‐time employment. NSCDC also created the Punto Urban Art Museum, a social justice art program with an outdoor gallery of some 75 murals created by internationally recognized and local artists.
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