2019 MassHousing Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 6
POLICY AND
I N N O VAT I O N
Innovation Team Methodology
Lend
Differently
Senior Housing
Vouchers
Workforce
HomeLink
Finance
Differently
REACH:
Demand
Parking lots
for housing
REACH:
Supply
Policy & Innovation Team Confronts
Multiple Housing Challenges
The Policy and Innovation Team was created to engage
with internal and external partners to support and
develop research, analysis and recommendations that
expand affordable housing in the Commonwealth.
The Team is involved in several initiatives, including
State of Housing in the
Commonwealth
Fellowship
Program
Community
Tours
Transparency
Report
Housing Navigator
Plan
Differently
the creation of a state-wide affordable housing database;
the development of a neighborhood stabilization
program; a partnership with municipalities to build
on locally-owned land; the development of the State’s
Economic Development Plan in partnership with the
Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
(EOHED), and the Racial Equity Advisory Council for
Homeownership (REACH).
REACH was created after the Department of Housing
and Community Development (DHCD) and MassHousing
convened a group of housing advocates in late 2018 to
define a goal for homeownership policies and programs
in the Commonwealth. The group reviewed the literature
and data around homeownership and is now focusing
on ways to narrow the Commonwealth’s racial
homeownership gap. MassHousing’ s Policy and Innovation
team is gathering data to support the council’s development
of strategies and their implementation.
Beyond the existing projects they are working on, Policy
Innovation Associates Monique Gibbs and Francis Goyes
Flor have created a “vault” to store ideas that can be
pursued in the future.
Policy Innovation Associates Monique Gibbs and Francis
Goyes Flor engage with both external and internal partners
researching opportunities to expand affordable housing in
the Commonwealth.
4