Massachusetts SD 2203: CEDAC 2016 Annual Report

Bill Text

ANNUAL REPORT 2016

Temple Place
Apartments
developer
CAMBRIDGE HOUSING AUTHORITY
location
CAMBRIDGE
population served
LOW-INCOME FAMILIES,
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
total units/supportive units
40/2
state loan program
CBH
CEDAC financing
N/A
There are many reasons to be proud of Massachusetts, especially when it comes
to supporting community development. For CEDAC’s dedicated Board and staff,
we are especially proud of the fact that the Commonwealth has been a leader on
affordable housing policy and finance for decades. Beginning in 1978, when the
Legislature had the foresight to create CEDAC to support non-profit community
development organizations, we have developed a unique model based on the
provision of early stage financing and technical assistance. This model combines
our vital technical expertise with careful predevelopment lending to help our
non-profit partners shape a development project. Our successful track record
demonstrates that this approach is the right formula for responsible lending,
leads to solid housing production and preservation results, and exemplifies good
public policy.
Fast forward to 2016 and CEDAC remains community-focused, even though
communities have changed and needs have evolved. Massachusetts is a national
leader in its care of homeless veterans, and was one of the first states to outline
a comprehensive plan to end veteran homelessness. The Commonwealth also
has expanded high-quality early education and out-of-school time programs for
families by creating a capital fund to help improve and expand facilities. And, just
eight years after the passage of Chapter 40T, Massachusetts is seeing tangible
success in maintaining affordable housing by preserving the long-term affordabil-
ity of expiring units and keeping them available to income-eligible families.
There’s a lot to talk about in this year’s annual report, including updates on the
Commonwealth’s landmark interagency working group on supportive housing,
increased funding for affordable housing development and preservation in the
Governor’s Capital Investment Plan, more childcare facility projects coming on-
line through the Early Education and Out of School Time Capital Fund program,
reports on our efforts to preserve more affordable units, and an announcement
of a new collaboration to deliver technical assistance to the Commonwealth’s
workforce development organizations.
When it comes to affordable housing and community development, the
path forward is always steep. But with our public and private partners in the
Commonwealth, that path is straight and we make progress on it every year.

Roger Herzog
CEDAC Executive Director
MASSACHUSETTS MODELS

SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Chrystal Kornegay
CEDAC Board Chair
1.

“ CEDAC’s efforts of increasing the supply of permanent,
supportive housing along with its work on the Governor’s
Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness are
invaluable to the state’s goals of increasing the supply
of affordable housing and ending homelessness.”
Marylou Sudders, Secretary of Health & Human Services
INTERAGENCY INITIATIVE
FINDS

NEW, INNOVATIVE WAYS TO

DEVELOP SUPPORTIVE HOUSING
2. Supportive Housing 3.
CEDAC shares the Commonwealth’s commitment to stabilize the lives of
thousands of Massachusetts families and individuals by producing supportive
housing units. Supportive housing, in which organizations offer support services
and affordable housing, can be complex for non-profit agencies to develop.
With the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), CEDAC
manages three of the Commonwealth’s supportive housing initiatives – the Housing
Innovations Fund (HIF), the Facilities Consolidation Fund (FCF), and the Community
Based Housing (CBH) program, all of which help vulnerable populations stabilize
their lives through the creation of safe and affordable housing.
The state’s affordable housing financing system is a model for the nation and our
recent pilot efforts to apply flexible, innovative thinking to the development of
supportive housing builds upon the success of that foundation. In just three years,
Massachusetts has developed 1,749 new units of supportive housing. To achieve
this goal, the state brought all of the major players - 20 state agencies, from
those focused on housing to those providing human services - together to work
collaboratively. This interagency initiative, chaired by Health and Human Services
Secretary Marylou Sudders and Housing and Economic Development Secretary
Jay Ash, meant improved communication and coordination, more sharing of
information, and a better understanding of best practices.
The Commonwealth also experimented with ways of streamlining an often
complicated funding process. Supportive housing developers require three
different sources of funding to turn the idea of a project into reality – they
need capital dollars to acquire or build affordable housing, operational funding
to maintain units and service funding for tenant stabil