As part of an ongoing effort to make it easier for the rental housing industry to interact with the agency, MassHousing launched masshousingrental.com, a new Web site that consolidates information, documents and applications for the agency’s rental housing business partners.

Masshousingrental.com is part of a larger effort to make it easier and more efficient for property owners and managers, rental housing developers, general contractors, auditors and other rental housing partners to do business with MassHousing. Previously, MassHousing’s business partners had to visit one of four agency Web sites to conduct different types of business.

MassHousing staff created masshousingrental.com with input from the Rental Housing Association, which was founded in 1953 and represents owners and managers of more than 100,000 rental housing units in Massachusetts.

"As a lender, we are sensitive to the fact that developers want to do business online, and as a regulator, we want to make compliance as easy as possible for those that manage the housing we finance,” said MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason. "This is just the first version of the site and eventually we will offer more opportunities to conduct business online in a secure environment.”

MassHousing provides financing to create or preserve affordable rental housing and has loaned more than $5.8 billion for more than 550 rental housing communities. Additionally, MassHousing provides administrative oversight on behalf of the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development for more than 400 federally subsidized apartment communities.

Masshousingrental.com provides financing information and applications for developers; reporting and compliance information for property owners and managers; as well as educational resources for rental property managers and their residents. The website also provides information and contracting opportunities for Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises.