In Massachusetts, much of the stock of affordable housing units was built in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Across the state, these properties provide much-needed affordable housing for tens of thousands of families and individuals. Many of these properties are privately-owned and publicly subsidized and were produced using state and/or federal housing resources including financing and insurance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), Massachusetts state financing, and other programs and incentives such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”). Most of these federal and state funding programs required that owners commit to maintaining the affordability of the units for a particular period of time—typically 20 to 40 years. As a result, many properties that were originally developed in these years are now reaching the end of their affordability period. Properties that are eligible to leave their affordability programs in the near future are considered “expiring use” or “at risk.”
In an effort to provide stakeholders with a clearer understanding of the existing affordable housing stock, CEDAC maintains a database of over 125,000 housing units in 1,500 properties located throughout the state of Massachusetts. The database integrates multiple public data sources to provide an overview of privately owned, publicly subsidized properties in the state. CEDAC uses this combined database to identify when specific affordable housing properties are eligible to end affordability restrictions and convert to “market rate” rent levels. Periodically, CEDAC posts summary reports on the affordable housing stock on our website www.cedac.org/preservation.
The CEDAC expiring use database does not purport to show all the affordable housing in a community and will indicate lower numbers of affordable housing than the Chapter 40B Supported Housing Inventory. Below is a list of several significant housing programs that are not included in the CEDAC database and the reason that the housing is not included in the Atlas:
Program | Reason |
---|---|
Public Housing (state and federal) | Not privately owned housing |
Supportive Housing Programs (e.g. Stewart B. McKinney, Housing Innovations Fund, Community Based Housing, Facilities Consolidation Fund, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) | Lack of available data |
Special Needs Housing (frequently service-enriched) | Lack of available data |
Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers | Not project-based (mobile vouchers) |
Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation | Lack of available data |
Section 8 Project-based vouchers | Lack of available data |
Rental Housing developed with HOME and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) | Lack of available data |
Chapter 40B Partially Assisted Projects | Largest projects have been entered; data input is ongoing |