CEDAC is pleased to welcome our new board chair and Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development, Janelle Chan, to our organization.  Undersecretary Chan began her new position in April, but in many ways, this is a coming home for her.  Prior to joining the Baker-Polito Administration in 2016, Janelle had led the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) as ...

While it is largely recognized that there is a strong demand for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) housing in Boston, there is also growing demand in outlying communities that offer commuter rail and active bus systems. The high cost of housing in Boston is pushing households to seek less expensive locations, but many still want the benefits of living in an urban area, in...

Massachusetts has a well-developed – and well-regarded – community development sector but not all areas in the State are as strongly developed as others.  In the Gateway Cities, the community development corporations (CDCs) work in the context of struggling economies, greater poverty, and tighter fiscal constraints than the Boston metro area. Over the last several yea...

The Commonwealth Workforce Coalition (CWC) is a statewide initiative that seeks to strengthen the capacity of Massachusetts’ education, training, and workforce system to produce better employment and earnings outcomes for unemployed and underemployed residents.  CEDAC founded the initiative, which was transferred to the Center for Social Policy (CSP) at the University o...

In February, Roger Herzog described CEDAC’s long history of supporting our non-profit partners as they produce and preserve supportive housing units through three distinct capital programs, including the Facilities Consolidation Fund (FCF). FCF was created in response to an advocate-driven effort to close institutions serving Department of Mental Health (DMH) or Departme...

March 1st marked an important and somber date in affordable housing preservation – it was the day in which over 1,300 affordable housing units in 15 developments built in the 1970s hit their mortgage expiration date.  This “expiring use” problem stems from the financing of two of the biggest rental development programs in that era – the state 13A program and the f...

Last fall, Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh, along with partners CEDAC and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Boston), announced the creation of the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund.  This fund provides new financing options for nonprofit affordable housing developers to acquire vacant and underutilized land and buildings in order to produce more affordable housing u...

On January 1st, during his inaugural address, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the City of Boston will undertake an effort to build 200 new units of housing for chronically homeless individuals.  The city, in partnership with the Pine Street Inn and Bank of America, plans to raise $10 million for the Way Home Fund. A few weeks later, on January 16th, St. Francis...

CEDAC’s project staff parlays its extensive knowledge of real estate development and financing gathered over our 40 year history to help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts address the housing needs of its most vulnerable populations. The state legislature is currently considering a $1.7 billion Housing Bond Bill that will help the Commonwealth maintain its commitment to t...

Since our establishment in 1978, CEDAC has continued to evolve to better serve our non-profit borrowers, connect with Massachusetts’ network of community development corporations, and work with community partners to carry out our mission of community development and strengthening the communities across the Commonwealth. As the needs of you, our partners, have changed,...