Healey-Driscoll Administration awards $246 million for affordable housing development

LOWELL, Mass. (WLNE) — Gov. Maura Healy and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll announced a $246 million award in direct subsidies and state and federal housing tax credits to build and preserve nearly 1,600 affordable homes throughout Massachusetts.

The award is made up of $105 million in direct subsidies, $60 million from federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, and $81 million in state and federal tax credits.

Nearly all of the 1,597 units will be reserved for low-income households, including more than 300 units for extremely low-income households and families or individuals facing housing instability, the governor’s office said.

Awardees include three projects in Boston which combine affordable rental units along with market-rate and affordable condominiums, four projects will be geared towards seniors, and more than half of the projects will be built to energy efficient “Passive House” certification standards, they added.

“Today’s awards set in motion 27 innovative, mixed-use projects that will build and preserve nearly 1,600 affordable units across every region of our state,” Healy said. “These are the types of projects that our Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities will be driving in close collaboration with local, federal and private sector partners to address our housing crisis.”

Healey added that the awarded projects put a priority on green and and sustainable building practices, projects which feature housing for extremely low–income residents, and family and senior developments.