Our communities rely on local and state programs that often include public money. Most programs use a range of revenue sources, but the federal government funds are critical. 

While we can – and should - debate the appropriate role of government in the housing market, the fact is that over the last 80+ years, since the Great Depression, federal policies have evolved to better match housing market supply and demand. This involvement is necessary because the unincentivized private market simply cannot produce and sustain an adequate supply of homes available for lower-income households.

Today federal housing and community development programs provide essential capital, subsidies and incentives so that providers and developers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can afford to offer more affordable homes.

While they don’t often make the evening news, many of these private/public partnerships are proven to be effective. They amount to an industry. It is an important and under-recognized sector of the economy, which, like homebuilding, generates jobs, economic activity and demand for products manufactured throughout the Commonwealth, all of which stays local. In fact, the Econsult Corporation found that every $1 invested in multifamily rehabilitation generates $2.28 in new money.

Some of the federal housing programs that work to help our communities are:

• Public Housing
• CDBG formula grants                                   
• HOME                                               
• Housing counseling                                       
• Section  202                                                   
• Section 811
• USDA Rural Housing programs