For Immediate Release
August 2, 2004
Please Contact: Colin Durrant (617)722-1650 or
Dalié Jiménez, 617-722-1650

Legislators Revive Tax Credit to Boost Affordable Housing Production

(State House, Boston) A tax credit that has created almost 1,800 homes will see its life extended under a bill approved today by the House and Senate. Passed in 1999, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit provides equity that allows developers to produce affordable housing. Lead sponsors Senator Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) and Representative Peter Larkin (D-Pittsfield) were joined by more than 40 of their colleagues in cosponsoring the bill to continue the tax credit due to expire in 2005.

“The high cost of housing continues to be a huge financial hurdle for hard-working families and businesses in our state,” said Senator Barrios. “We should continue to seize every opportunity to encourage the construction of homes that are affordable for people in Massachusetts.”

“The state credit helps increase the ability of developers to use other sources of funding, that without the credit, would have to be relied upon, thereby increasing the ability to produce affordable housing,” said Representative Larkin.

To date, the state Department of Housing and Community Development has committed credits to thirteen developments in nine communities – Abington, Boston, Brockton, Fall River, Franklin, Lowell, New Bedford, Raynham, and Walpole. The program was originally authorized for five years, and nearly all of the credits have been committed.

Larry Curtis, a managing partner at WinnDevelopment and a board member of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, said that his company has used the state housing tax credit program to successfully develop 151 units at Nazing Court in Roxbury. Winn has also received credits for and is in the process of constructing 154 units of mixed-income rental housing at Boot Cotton Mills in Lowell.

The program has provided funding to help create 1,797 homes. More than 1,100 of these homes meet state affordability requirements. For more information call: Chris Norris, Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association , 617-742-0820 x107

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