After more than a year of virtual events, Sara Barcan and I were thrilled to join Governor Baker at Father Bill’s Place in Quincy for his March 31st announcement of the 8th annual Supportive Housing for Vulnerable Populations round. Also present at the event were Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, and other elected officials, as we...

Father Bill's & MainSpring (FBMS) manages two year-round shelters for individual adults and more than 130 shelter units for families – and as you can imagine, we have seen firsthand the impact that COVID-19 is having on vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. Located in Brockton, our MainSpring House property is a congregate emergency shelter for homeless ind...

In October, the Baker-Polito Administration announced the 2020 Affordable Rental Housing Awards. The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will provide more than $105.7 million in direct funding and $53 million in state and federal tax credits for the production or preservation of more than 2,400 housing units, including 2,166 affordable rent...

In July of this year, we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the first comprehensive civil rights law for people living with disabilities. Thanks to the ADA, we’ve come to rely on a wide variety of design and technology innovations that open our public spaces and our housing to residents with mobility, sens...

Over the past eight years, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has crafted an innovative approach to financing the production of permanent supportive housing. Each year, DHCD holds a dedicated funding competition, the Supportive Housing for Vulnerable Populations round, to distribute capital funds as well as special project-based operat...

Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy has just completed a very special tour across the Commonwealth.  Over the course of eight days, he stopped in multiple communities to highlight 28 affordable housing projects in various stages of development across Massachusetts, and by doing so, he has demonstrated why the state remains a national ...

The highlight of the year for affordable housing production and preservation occurred on July 18th with the announcement of funding awards in the annual rental housing funding round to 28 affordable housing projects in Massachusetts. When Governor Baker signed the $1.8 billion Housing Bond bill last year – the largest the state has ever seen – it was clear that the Bak...

CEDAC staff attended an event on May 7th at the Worcester YWCA, where Lt. Governor Karyn Polito announced that the Baker-Polito Administration is awarding funding for the production and preservation of 147 new units of supportive housing in communities across Massachusetts. Lt. Governor Polito was joined by State Senators Harriette Chandler and Michael O. Moore, City Manag...

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Mel King, legendary community activist and former state representative, invoked this phrase as he concluded his remarks at our 40th anniversary celebration on March 14th.  And Mel did not just speak these words, but rather inspired the audience to chant them together with him.  This phrase sums up his philosophy on community develo...

CEDAC is proud to celebrate 40 years of strengthening communities across the Commonwealth. We are thrilled to announce that we will honor former State Representative Mel King as we commemorate this anniversary this month. As a Massachusetts State Representative, Mel King sponsored legislation in 1978 which created CEDAC with a mission to support community-based developme...