1. Director of Rental Business Development | MassHousing
Olmsted Green Homeownership Units Built using the Workforce Housing Program
Cynthia Lacasse
Director of Rental Business Development | MassHousing
NCSHA 2017

2. Workforce Housing Program
The Case for Workforce Housing
Workforce Housing Program
The Workforce Housing (WFH) Program is designed to address the different challenges communities face:
In Greater Boston, the goal is to secure affordability in markets that are already or are becoming out of reach for middle-income households.
In places like Massachusetts’ “Gateway Cities” the goal is to be a catalyst to grow local economies and help attract middle-income households.
Gateway Cities are defined as having a:
Population between 35,000 and 250,000
Median households income below MA’s average
Percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or above is below MA’s average

3. The Need for Workforce Housing
The Case for Workforce Housing
The Need for Workforce Housing
In Metro Boston, middle-income households have decreased since 1990
Lower- and higher-income working households has grown dramatically over the past 25 years.

4. The Need for Workforce Housing
The Case for Workforce Housing
The Need for Workforce Housing
Middle-income housing needs represent almost a quarter of the new workforce housing need over the next 15 years.

5. The Need for Workforce Housing
The Case for Workforce Housing
The Need for Workforce Housing
Report: Boston Ranks No. 1 For City Income Inequality
In 2013 Boston’s 95/20 ratio was 15.0, and it was then the third most unequal big U.S. city. From 2013 to 2014, Boston’s poor got poorer, and its rich got richer.
There has been a reduction in middle-income Bostonians while lower-income and upper-income residents have grown dramatically

6. MassHousing’s Opportunity Fund
Response: Workforce Housing
MassHousing’s Opportunity Fund
In March 2016, the MassHousing Board voted to approve and capitalize the Opportunity Fund with $160 million, to support the Agency’s efforts to confront the housing challenges facing the Commonwealth.

7. Workforce Housing Program
Workforce Housing Initiative
Workforce Housing Program
MassHousing set aside $100 million from the Opportunity Fund for Workforce Housing, and the goals of the initiative include:
Creating more housing options, especially for those not served by traditional affordable housing programs – younger professionals, teachers, healthcare workers, researchers
Incentivizing production of new units of housing
Addressing needs in Boston, Gateway Cities and wealthier suburbs

8. Workforce Housing Program
Workforce Housing Initiative
Workforce Housing Program
Restricted to those earning 60% - 120% AMI, with rents 10% below market and higher than LIHTC rents
New production (consideration for existing projects at risk of conversion to market)
Soft debt in an amount up to $100,000 per workforce housing unit; $5 million project limit, with consideration for increases including in communities with inclusionary zoning to incentivize the creation of units above the minimum requirement
Restrictions are in place for the longer of 30 years or the outstanding term of the loan
Income recertification every other year
Set-aside $25 million for transformative projects, i.e. leverages state-owned land, TOD, housing in neighborhoods of opportunity

9. Olmsted Green in Boston, MA
Located in a southern neighborhood of Boston, Olmsted Green is a multi-phase Rental and Home Ownership community with access to public transportation.
Formerly the site of a state hospital, the lot sat vacant for 30 years before the New Boston Fund and Lena Park Community Development Corporation (Boston’s oldest African American CDC) committed to redeveloping the site.

11. History of the Community
Olmsted Green
History of the Community
1884 – Boston State Hospital Opens
1978 – Hospital is Decommissioned & Closed
1993 – Master Plan for Site Developed
2003 – Master Plan Updated
2005 – Developer Acquires 38-Acres of Site
2008 – Construction Starts at Site
2011 – Construction is Stopped
2017 – Construction Resumes

12. Olmsted Green
Revitalizing the Site
The development of Olmsted Green created unprecedented opportunities in economic development, workforce housing, and neighborhood employment stabilization. The project has so far produced $100 million in investment, with additional phases expected to generate another $100 million.
The newest phase of the development includes the construction of two rental three-story buildings, 22 rental townhouses, and 41 for-sale townhouses. There will be units affordable to households making <100% AMI, <90% AMI, <80% AMI, and <60% AMI.

13. Workforce Housing Units
Olmsted Green
Workforce Housing Units
Workforce Housing Funds will be used for both the Rental and Home Ownership phases.
Olmsted Green is the first development in which Workforce Housing Funds are used for Home Ownership units.
Rental
100 units
$4,000,000
Home Ownership
41 units
$1,000,000
TOTAL WFH FUNDS
$5,000,000

14. Olmsted Green | Home Ownership Phase Affordability / Sales Price
$367,692 per-unit TDC
BR Type
Gross SF
Total Unit Count
Affordability / Sales Price
80%
Price
100%
Market
2BR
1,072 10 4
$210,000
$267,750 2
$304,408
1,172 20 5
$210,028
$267,728
$315,059
1,295 1
$211,650
$267,675
$319,975
1,256 3
$211,050
$267,732
$318,532
3BR
1,365
$236,700
$309,025
$337,356
Total Units: 41 11 - 19
Sources
Construction Loan
$8,334,126
City of Boston
$2,250,000
MassHousing WFH Funds
$1,000,000
Equity
$1,406,000
Equity – Deferred Land
$1,025,000
Equity – Deferred Fee
$1,060,563
Total:
$15,075,389
Uses
Acquisition
$1,025,000
Direct Construction
$10,105,000
Contingency
$492,750
General Development
$1,992,376
Overhead and Fee
$1,460,263
Total:
$15,075,389

15. Olmsted Green | Home Ownership Phase
$1,000,000 of MassHousing Workforce Housing Funds
$45,454 per workforce unit
Structured as a forgivable loan forgiven in increments of $45,454 as each workforce unit is sold to an eligible buyer
30-year deed restriction
Buyer income qualification and resale process overseen by the City of Boston

16. Thank You! Questions? Comments? Cynthia Lacasse, MassHousing
Director, Rental Business Development