MassHousing, Healey-Driscoll Administration Announce New Round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program Capital Grants

The Healey-Driscoll Administration and MassHousing today announced a total of $8.1 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants, to 11 community-based organizations, to fund the redevelopment or rehabilitation of 56 affordable homes, including 24 new affordable homeownership opportunities.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is a $50 million capital grant program that provides municipalities and nonprofit developers with funds to address blight, abandonment and disinvestment in residential neighborhoods, by providing grants for the construction, reconstruction, renovation or repair of substandard rental and homeownership properties.

"The Neighborhood Stabilization Program helps revitalize neighborhoods and expand homeownership opportunities by transforming underutilized properties into affordable housing," said Governor Maura Healey. "We have to use every tool in our toolkit to address our housing crisis, and rehabilitating blighted properties is key to increasing our housing supply and strengthening our neighborhoods."

"Every community can advance solutions to our longstanding housing crisis, and through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, we are bringing vacant homes and empty lots back to life and creating new affordable homes for our residents," said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll.

"We are proud to partner with MassHousing to pursue a variety of strategies to increase housing opportunities and this year’s capital investment plan will invest hundreds of millions in the acquisition, rehabilitation, and development of affordable housing. Today's awards will create 24 first-time homebuyers by developing new, affordable homeownership opportunities in underinvested areas," said Ed Augustus, Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities. "We congratulate all of our partners for their work improving their communities, and we look forward to welcoming families into their new homes."

"Neighborhood stabilization efforts build on MassHousing's mission-driven work to strengthen households through homeownership," said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. "Working collaboratively with mission-oriented developers, Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants will help rehabilitate substandard homes, transform vacant lots into new homeownership opportunities, and uplift neighborhoods across the Commonwealth."

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program provides deeper levels of construction subsidy than were previously available through state sources, allowing municipalities and their development partners to address the impacts of longstanding neglect. MassHousing administers the Neighborhood Stabilization Program on behalf of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

MassHousing launched the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in 2022. To date, the program has awarded $12.7 million in funding, resulting in the construction or substantial rehabilitation of 87 homes, including 46 new homeownership opportunities for lower-income first-time homebuyers.

Communities across the Commonwealth are eligible to apply for Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant funding, although the program prioritizes projects that will have the greatest impact in weaker markets, including rural communities and communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program also prioritizes projects that promote homeownership and climate-resilient design, and projects that include diverse sponsors. All homes created or rehabilitated through the program will remain affordable for at least 15 years.

Awarded projects

104 Walter St, Boston

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston, Inc. will renovate and convert a vacant single-family home in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood into a 2-unit affordable homeownership condominium. The developer will also construct two additional affordable condominium units at the property’s rear, on the site of a collapsed barn. The property was acquired by the Boston Planning and Development Agency in 2020 as part of a broader anti-blight and wetlands dumping cleanup effort in the neighborhood; the BPDA designated Habitat for Humanity of Greater Boston to redevelop the property for affordable housing. 

1876 Beacon Street, Brookline 

Caritas Communities will renovate and continue to manage this older, affordable 15-unit Single Room Occupancy rental property. Funding is needed to make both interior and exterior renovations, including improvements to the kitchen, baths, trash structure, and roof and parapet. The building provides a critically important housing option for low-income persons in Brookline.

26 Poquanticut Avenue, Easton

South Shore Habitat for Humanity will redevelop this blighted property, which has been vacant for over four years. In partnership with the Town of Easton and the Town's Affordable Housing Trust, South Shore Habitat intends to tear down the existing blighted home and build new a single-family three bedroom, one-and-a-half bath home that will be offered to a lower-income homebuyer at an affordable price.

50 Granite Street, Fitchburg 

Habitat for Humanity North Central Massachusetts will construct a new single-family home for sale to a lower-income first time homebuyer on this formerly City-owned lot. The blighted structure on the lot was acquired by the city and demolished in 2015, and has been sold to Habitat for the development of affordable housing. The property is an important part of the city’s Housing Program Strategy Area. 

42 Cleveland Street, Greenfield

This property, which has been vacant for more than five years and has been condemned by the Greenfield Board of Health, is making its way through the receivership process. A receiver has been appointed, and the court’s receiver anticipates transferring ownership of the property to Rural Development, Inc. RDI will rehabilitate and upgrade this 4-bedroom home and sell it to a lower-income first-time homebuyer.

141-147 High Street, Holyoke

One Holyoke Community Development Corporation will partner with a local developer to renovate this highly visible and historic mixed-use building in the City’s retail center, creating 8 new affordable rental units plus first floor commercial space, as part of the City’s strategy to revitalize the High Street corridor.

Various sites, Lynn

The Latino Support Network and its development partners will purchase and renovate two three-family properties in Lynn, creating six new homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers. The project will advance the implementation of Lynn’s recent Housing Production Plan.

First Street, Montague 

Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity will build six all-electric, energy efficient detached single-family homes on a former blighted parking lot near the center of Montague. The town conveyed the property to the developer for affordable homeownership development. The development implements multiple local housing planning efforts, including the town’s COVID-19 Rapid Recovery Plan. The First Street development will be the first new construction permitted under Montague's Chapter 40R smart growth overlay zoning. 

82-84 Robbins Avenue and 266-268 Onota Street, Pittsfield 

Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity will build four new three-bedroom homeownership units on these two parcels in Pittsfield’s Westside Neighborhood. Central Berkshire Habitat will sell the new homes to lower-income first-time homebuyers. The development is also receiving support from the City of Pittsfield and the city’s Community Preservation Committee, and is part of a broader redevelopment and investment plan for the Westside Neighborhood.

Prospect Street, Springfield

HOPE Community Development Corporation and their local development partners will build a new two-family home on a long-vacant and blighted parcel. The developer will sell the two-family property to a moderate-income homeowner, who will in turn rent the second unit to a low- or moderate-income tenant. HOPE CDC is a newly-established CDC originating from several houses of worship, serving Springfield’s Mason Square, Six Corners, Old Hill, Upper Hill, McKnight, and Bay neighborhoods. The City of Springfield has provided HOPE CDC with federal ARPA funding, and the CDC’s local partner is an emerging developer who also has the City’s support.

Various properties, Springfield

Revitalize Community Development Corporation will work with existing homeowners with significant housing rehabilitation needs to correct building and sanitary code violations and make other improvements to four properties, totaling 8 units. This project will preserve the occupancy of these properties and improve the quality of life for four homeowners and four tenant households, while helping to stabilize the surrounding neighborhood.