APRIL 2012 

Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Aaron Gornstein recently met with MACDC's Board of Directors at their monthly meeting held in Worcester.  "We were honored to host the Undersecretary" said MACDC's Board Chair and Twin Cities CDC Executive Director Marc Dohan.  "He went point by point through our concerns and suggestions in a letter we sent when he began his tenure.  It was reassuring to have a dialogue about how DHCD works with CDCs and how we can support each other as we collectively create and maintain vibrant communities throughout Massachusetts" noted Dohan.   

Undersecretary Gornstein laid out his priorities on a broad range of topics including homelessness, public housing, rental housing, homeownership development, foreclosure and community economic development. MACDC's President Joe Kriesberg said "CDCs have always worked closely with DHCD and we look forward to continuing that relationship as we work with Undersecretary Gornstein to help advance the Patrick-Murray Administration's ambitious and important agenda." 

MACDC's Lobby Day will be Thursday, May 3, 2012.  Join us at noon in The Great Hall for lunch and a speaking program.  CDCs from around the state will be sharing their latest initiatives and we will be hearing from the administration and legislative leaders.  Please RSVP here if you would like to join us. 

MACDC thanks Senator John Kerry and Senator Scott Brown for writing in support of the HOME Investment Partnership Programs.  In addition, six members of Massachusetts Congressional delegation signed on to a similar letter.  The bipartisan letters, co-signed by a total of 25 Senators and 59 Representatives, note the importance of HOME to provide flexible funding for communities to address affordable housing needs.

For more information on HOME advocacy, visit Enterprise Community Partners.      

The non-profit affordable housing system needs a "culture change" when it comes to Asset Management, said Harold Nassau of Neighborworks America at the Mel King Institute's Innovation Forum Event entitled: Innovations in Asset Management: New Efforts to Strengthen Properties, Communities, and Non Profit Housing Organizations on April 5th.

Nassau was building on one of the major themes that emerged from the Community Development Innovation Forum in 2009 -- the importance of increasing the field's attention to asset management, not just new developments. Effective asset management improves the lives of residents and enables nonprofit housing organizations to earn more revenue from their existing portfolios so that their financial health would be less dependent on increasingly irregular and unreliable developer fees. Since that time a number of organizations have launched programs to move the field in this direction, including initiatives related to financial management, energy efficiency, professional development, property insurance, collaboration, and policy reform. This Innovation Forum event highlighted some of these exciting developments and provided a forum to discuss how we can further advance and expand them.

Sue Connelly of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership moderated the forum, which included presentations by MH Nsangou, Executive Director of Allston Brighton CDC, Armando Perez from Boston Financial Investment Management, and Harold Nassau from Neighbor Works America. Some key themes emerged in their presentations:

• Sponsors should approach asset management as owners and operators- don't just hand over the building to your property management company;
• Establish key asset management indicators that your Board or a designated subcommittee assesses regularly;
• Asset management fees should be "above the line"- in other words, incorporated when determining a property's cash flow;
• As new project pipelines have diminished, savvy organizations have redirected staff toward increased focus on the performance of their existing portfolio; and
• Asset management reports should move toward including outcomes for residents in addition to financial indicators.

The Forum was attended by about 60 people, and several offered comments and questions. A persistent theme of these comments was concern about the trend with public lenders more frequently requiring repayment of soft debt from cash flow, which makes it more difficult to maintain a healthy portfolio. Panelists noted that one of the many benefits of collaboration is enhanced capacity to advocate effectively on policy issues such as this.

The bottom line, said Armando Perez, is that "a healthy portfolio provides the financial resources to advance organizational priorities" and that in turn, said M.H. Nsangou, allows CDCs to fulfill their broader mission of community improvement.

For more information about Asset Management, contact Don Bianchi. 

"Massachusetts and Israel actually share many of the same housing challenges - home prices and rents that are out of reach for many households, disparities between hot and soft real estate markets, an aging housing stock in need of rehabilitation or replacement, and complex social dynamics flowing from differences in race, religion, ethnicity, immigration status and income," noted MACDC President Joseph Kriesberg who co-chaired the delegation. "At the same time there were significant differences. Israel is still adjusting to the implications of moving from a largely socialist tradition during the first 30 or 40 years of its history to a much more market oriented economy today. This requires the development of an affordable housing system that leverages the capacity of the private and nonprofit sectors - a topic on which Massachusetts has much to share."

"Despite the challenges facing the country, we were impressed by the creativity and tenacity of the developers and advocates that we met, and the commitment of the government officials who clearly want to address this critical problem," said MACDC Board Member Rob Corley who was part of the delegation. "It is remarkable that this small country has been able to absorb millions of immigrants from across the world and provide reasonably good housing for virtually everyone."

For more information about the trip, please contact Joe Kriesberg. 

NACEDA Summit in Washington, DC May 21-23

MACDC's Blog: Are Benefit Corporations Friends or Foes?  

CHAM: Nuts & Bolts of Asset Management

MACDC's Calendar - promote your event

MACDC provides a calendar on our website for members and supporting organizations to publicize their events including Annual Meetings, Ribbon Cuttings and fundraisers.  Several upcoming member events are: 

• April 12th - Asian CDC 25th Anniversary Inspiration Gala, 6pm
• April 13th - North Shore CDC Holcroft Park Homes Groundbreaking, 10am
• April 13th - Homeowners Rehab, Inc. and Cambridge NHS, Inc.'s Dedication of Putnam Green, 11am
• April 26th - Dorchester Bay EDC's Catch the Wave event, 6pm
• April 29th - Housing Corporation of Arlington's Eleventh Annual Walk for Affordable Housing, 1pm

MACDC members, please tell us about your events by sending an email to Rosa Nin.

MACDC's Job Postings