Beyond ski season Shorter, more volatile winters compel several Berkshire County resorts to adapt, attract visitors to spring, summer and fall offerings. Page 2
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Berkshire Business Journal MAY 2024 I VOL. 3, NO. 5
Building equity An ambitious partnership looks to help underrepresented firms develop affordable housing here and throughout the Commonwealth
BEN GARVER
More projects like the conversion of Eagle Mill in Lee into affordable housing units, in which MassHousing and Berkshire Housing Development Corp are participating, could be encouraged through the Equitable Developers Fund. BY JIM M. THERRIEN PITTSFIELD — The nation’s largest publicly led program to create growth opportunities for developers who’ve been underrepresented in the industry is gearing up across the commonwealth. Efforts to develop more affordable housing in Massachusetts are expected to directly benefit from the initiative’s significant resources. In March, the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. and MassHousing announced the organizations will partner to launch a $50 million Equitable Developers Fund. “The fund,” the organizations stated in a press release, “will diversify the state’s housing delivery system by providing enterprise-level financing to active developers from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds and communities.”
EXPANDING THE RANKS “Ultimately, we want to see more developers helping to solve the affordable
housing crisis in Massachusetts,” MHIC President and CEO Moddie Turay said in an interview with the BBJ. “Developing a public-private partnership that draws upon MassHousing’s and MHIC’s decades of affordable housing and community development financing experience provides the critical foundation upon which to establish the Equitable Developers Fund,” he said. Turay said a defining aspect of the fund is that it will help developers with pre-development financing — offering the type of resources larger, established developers normally have greater access to when planning and constructing a real estate project. DIVERSIFICATION A goal of the fund, Turay said, is to diversify the state’s housing delivery system by providing enterprise-level financing to developers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and communities. “We are thrilled to partner with MHIC AFFORDABLE HOUSING, Page 9
PHOTO COURTESY OF MASSACHUSETTS HOUSING INVESTMENT CORPORATION
MHIC President and CEO Moddie Turay said the Equitable Developers Fund “is for essentially emerging developers; it’s not for the well-established, well-capitalized developer.”
MIKE RITTER
MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay said her group’s partnership with MHIC will “help unlock new opportunities for housing growth,” given the organizations’ “intimate knowledge of the barriers of entry to the Massachusetts affordable housing ecosystem.”