MHP honors tireless advocates as housing heroes

DEVENS--- It’s become a tradition for MHP to honor local volunteers, officials, advocates and communities with the Housing Hero Award. At the 16^th Housing Institute, MHP recognized three Housing Heroes—The Town of Montague, The City of Worcester, and the Community Development Partnership. The honorees were selected for their leadership, commitment, patience and tenacity in creating or supporting affordable housing in their community.

Montague has a strong history of supporting affordable housing. The town has made remarkable progress toward creating more housing diversity through rehabilitating existing housing stock, zoning reform and thoughtful planning and building of more homes. Despite being a small and rural community of just under 9,000, Montague is advancing the relationships, investments and policies that are needed to build upon the impactful progress of housing initiatives.

Worcester has tackled the affordable housing crisis through many avenues, including creating an affordable housing trust fund, investing $28 million of ARPA funds in housing initiatives and passing inclusionary zoning. These steps reflect the determined and collaborative efforts of city officials, city councilors, community development corporations, the housing authority and developers. These are leaders and advocates who are passionate about getting things done, which has led to permitting and construction of homes that will help people stay housed in the city.

The Community Development Partnership has expanded and diversified housing opportunities in the Lower Cape Cod region, including leveraging ARPA funds, developing resources and bringing together housing advocates who come from many different backgrounds. The collaboration it took to create the Lower Cape Housing and ADU Resource Center is a great example of the incredible outcomes that can be achieved when housing advocates and government officials work together. The CDP has a strong foundation of resources for both renters and first-time homebuyers on the Cape. The Center provides access to a housing stability fund to help residents stay in their homes even if they are not eligible for other housing support programs. Services are available to both landlords and tenants to promote tenancy and long-term rental success, complete with an online resource library and training sessions.

Here is information on the 16th Housing Institute training sessions. For more, contact MHP’s Christine Madore at 857-317-8538 or cmadore@mhp.net.