Timothy Sullivan

MassHousing launched the nation’s most ambitious state-level initiative specifically aimed at building middle-income affordability because we saw the housing market struggling to respond to the housing needs of Massachusetts’s working families.

Last week at Olmsted Green in Mattapan, we demonstrated the deep impact that workforce housing can have in a community. At Olmsted Green, MassHousing joined Gov. Charlie Baker, the governor’s housing and economic development team, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, the New Boston Fund and the Lena Park Community Development Corporation, to celebrate construction progress on 41 mixed-income townhouses. At this project, and others, MassHousing is helping to revitalize neighborhoods and build prosperity, by collaborating to deliver new housing at an accessible price point.

The new Olmsted Green townhouses are part of an ambitious redevelopment of the former Boston State Hospital, which has already delivered 210 new units of affordable rental housing to Mattapan. Now, thanks to financing from MassHousing’s Workforce Housing Initiative and Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development, the New Boston Fund and Lena Park CDC are constructing 41 new mixed-income townhouses at Olmsted, including 22 new affordable homes for moderate-income families.

This project is a great example of how MassHousing partners with the private sector and with communities, to deliver housing finance that builds stronger neighborhoods. Through July, Mattapan has only seen 52 single-family and condominium sales all year. The opportunity to deliver 41 new homeownership opportunities to moderate-income and market-rate buyers will be transformative, for both the surrounding neighborhood, and for the development’s future residents.

Addressing Affordability

Projects like Olmsted Green are more than individual real estate deals. They produce multiplier effects that resonate through the state’s economy, because they are delivering the type of housing that is critical to the commonwealth’s workforce.

As the state’s affordable housing finance agency, MassHousing confronts the housing challenges facing the commonwealth, to improve the lives of its people. We execute that mission in a way that promotes broad-based community development, and creates a platform for working families to achieve economic success.

We launched our $100 million Workforce Housing Initiative last year, because traditional affordable housing tools are not enough to tackle Massachusetts’s growing affordability woes: If housing price burdens fall disproportionately on the commonwealth’s working families, Massachusetts will not be able to attract and retain the workforce it needs to propel the economy forward.

The Workforce Housing Initiative is creating 1,000 new deed-restricted workforce housing units statewide, by providing the affordable, long-term financing that allows developers to build new homes at prices working families can afford. In its first year, the initiative has advanced the development of 1,317 housing units, including 387 workforce units, creating moderate-income affordability in a diverse range of communities, from Bourne to Worcester.

In Boston, MassHousing is supporting Mayor Walsh’s Housing Boston 2030 vision by advancing the creation of new workforce housing in Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain and the Fenway. Funding announced by Baker last week will allow MassHousing to partner with developers, to deliver another 60 new rental workforce units to Mattapan.

The market is embracing workforce housing. This shift is supporting the growth of the Massachusetts economy, while helping communities deliver more safe, stable, affordable housing, at price points that would not otherwise be possible. It is creating dynamic new homeownership opportunities in Mattapan. And it is helping to ensure that the communities that have made this commonwealth such a dynamic place to live, remain vibrant and accessible to residents of all means.

Tim Sullivan is the executive director of MassHousing.