Plans call for the neighborhood surrounding the Jackson Square MBTA station in Boston to be transformed into a mix of more than 400 new homes, as well as retail and office space.

The first phase of a plan to transform the neighborhood surrounding Boston’s Jackson Square MBTA station into a mixed-use project could be approved as early as this fall.

The development, which would include more than 400 new homes in addition to retail and office space, is just one urban project that will help community-based groups across Massachusetts reach a goal of building thousands of new affordable homes over the next four years.

The Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations recently unveiled a four-year campaign to build or preserve 6,000 homes and 9,000 jobs, and attract $1 billion in private and public investment to revitalize Bay State communities.

MACDC President Joseph Kriesberg said the organization is relying heavily on several larger-scale projects in Boston, including the Jackson Square redevelopment, to reach its goals.

“Any serious delays in that project that could come up with either permitting or environmental [issues] – that alone could probably affect our ability to achieve this goal,” he said.

Another challenge will be the availability of state and federal funding, as well as construction and land costs. Many of the projects driven by CDCs depend on the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, federal and state tax credits, and a host of other state money.

MACDC fell short of its previous plan to build or preserve 5,700 units from 2003 to 2006. The organization preserved or built 5,186 units during those years. A spike in construction and land costs and a flattening in state funding for housing made it difficult for the organization to meet its original housing goal, according to Kriesberg.

“Housing subsidies didn’t go as far as they used to,” he said.

CDC leaders, however, are hopeful that more state and federal resources will flow over the next few years. Gov. Deval Patrick already has committed $40 million in new money for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and has indicated that he is interested in preserving existing units for low- and moderate-income households.

“One change that we all have seen is that the hopefully state and federal resources will at least keep up with housing costs, if not exceed them,” Kriesberg said.

The Jackson Square project is being developed by a team that includes two CDCs, Urban Edge and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp.

The latest design calls for a mix of 438 rental units and condominiums, 291 of which will be affordable; 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space; a youth and family center; and an ice rink and recreational facility. The project will encompass 11 acres in Jamaica Plain.

A vote on the first phase by the Boston Redevelopment Authority is expected by September or October, according to Mossik Hacobian, executive director of Urban Edge, which serves Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.

The first phase includes a 103-unit mixed-income rental development with ground-floor retail on a triangular piece of land next to the MBTA station, as well as a 40-unit condo complex on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Ritchie Street. A 30,000-square-foot youth and family center also is planned. Construction of the housing units is expected by mid-2008.

If all goes as planned, the first phase should be finished by 2009, according to Hacobian, and more than 210 units will be completed by 2010.

‘A Lot of Effort’

Hacobian said he is optimistic that the project will move forward with permitting given that the development team has spent over a year going through a community review process and several city reviews.

“Both [Jackson Square] partners and investors and lenders and the city have put a lot of effort and resources in this,” he said. “The schedule, I suppose, is always subject to change depending on market conditions and funding Â… we try to lay out a schedule that takes that into consideration.”

Besides Jackson Square, another project that will help MACDC get to its goal is a plan to build a mix of over 320 condos and rental units in Chinatown, according to Kriesberg.

The Asian Community Development Corp. and New Boston Fund are behind the plan to convert the Chinatown property along Kneeland Street known as Parcel 24.

The plan calls for 70 units for low-income tenants. The goal is for half of the units to be affordable, according to Jeremy Liu, executive director of the Asian CDC.

Liu said the project will double the homeownership rate in Chinatown.

The project hasn’t begun the permitting process yet, but Liu said he anticipates construction to begin at the end of next year or beginning of 2009 with a 24- to 30-month construction period.

Parcel 24 could face a roadblock because of a Supreme Judicial Court decision earlier this year regarding development in filled tidelands and Chapter 91, a law designed to protect the public’s interest in waterways, which regulates activities in inland and coastal areas. In that decision, the court ruled that environmental regulators shouldn’t have exempted filled, landlocked tidelands from Chapter 91.

Some legal analysts argue that the ruling could jeopardize future development in coastal areas of the state, including projects proposed along or near Boston’s waterfront.

But Liu said that based on proposals coming from the Legislature and the Patrick administration to deal with the SJC decision, he doesn’t feel that the Chinatown project will be affected.

“We don’t think at this point it’s going to be an issue,” he said.

New Boston Fund is teaming with another CDC, Lena Park Community Development Corp., to redevelop the former Boston State Hospital site into a 42-acre village with townhouses and apartments. The project, known as Olmsted Green, broke ground last year. It will feature 287 townhouse-style condos, 153 rentals for low-income households and an 84-unit apartment building for low-income seniors.

Kriesberg said he anticipates more partnerships between nonprofit groups and for-profit developers to help CDCs develop larger-scale projects such as Olmsted Green.

And, he added, CDCs will continue the trend of producing mixed-income housing. “There aren’t enough subsidies to do 100 percent affordable projects,” he said.