The Massachusetts Association of
Community Development Corporations

• About MACDC
• Annual Reports
• 2009 Report
• Ending and Starting with Success

 

Fiscal year 2009 was a busy and productive year for MACDC in our on-going public policy efforts. We wrapped up one state policy campaign, started another, and dramatically increased our involvement in Federal policy as a new President and Congress created opportunities for action in Washington, DC.

 

To prepare for our new campaign, MACDC staff began preparing for the next session. We met with CDC boards, staff, community members and others to learn what was important in the communities we serve and how they thought state policy could help address the challenges created by the economic meltdown, cuts in state funding, and lack of affordable homes and jobs. We heard that expiring use buildings continued to be of concern along with the ramification of foreclosures on homeowners, tenants and communities. Throughout the state, funding for small business assistance was a priority for our members as was how best to ensure that CDCs have the financial and regulatory support they need.

 

At the 2008 Convention MACDC rolled out the Campaign for Our Neighborhoods and our members committed to working towards the broad platform that will help secure and rebuild our neighborhoods. The Campaign for Our Neighborhoods addresses housing, small business community development issues through four key initiatives:

In spite of successfully passing one of the most comprehensive foreclosure prevention law in the country in 2007, foreclosures continue to dramatically impact homeowners, tenants, neighborhoods and the state’s overall economic health.  More than half of foreclosed units in Massachusetts are in multifamily properties and tenants and local governments often cannot hold the new owner in a foreclosure accountable for the property condition. In coalition with others, we filed and testified in support of An Act Relative to Stabilizing Communities (H. 3571/H. 3692 & S.1379).  This bill would provide tenants with protections in foreclosed buildings, require banks or others entities holding foreclosed buildings to register with municipalities to create both a funding source and a database to monitor the conditions of those buildings. 

 

In addition, MACDC is working to fully implement the state’s 2007 anti-foreclosure law, sustain state funding for foreclosure prevention counseling, and collaborating with state and local agencies to effectively deploy $55 million of new federal resources aimed at buying and redeveloping foreclosed and abandoned properties in the hardest hit neighborhoods.

An Act Preserving Publicly Assisted Affordable Housing was signed into law in November, 2009.  While the final passage occurred after FY09, MACDC and the other members of our “expiring use” coalition - CHAPA, Mass Senior Action Council and Boston Tenants Coalition – worked tirelessly throughout FY09 and for the proceeding 15 years to create this important law.  The law creates a framework to ensure that tens of thousands of privately owned apartments in Massachusetts remain affordable even though time-limited state and federal subsidies are ending. 

Even during the difficult budget debate for FY10, MACDC secured $1 million in funding for the Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program.  The small, locally owned businesses that play such a critical role in our communities are facing rising costs, declining sales, and tightening credit markets. MACDC and its members are committed to helping these business owners and the jobs they create survive these tough times and the Small Business TA program provides some of the necessary funding to support these efforts.

 

However, in FY10, the TA program funds were cut in half.  MACDC will continue to work to restore funding in full in the FY11 state budget but also to support our members as they deal with this drastic program cut. 

MACDC is working to both modernize the law that defines CDCs and create resources to support their efforts.  An Act to Strengthen Community Development in the Commonwealth (S. 89 and H. 210) and An Act to Create the Community Development Partnership Program (S. 1229) were filed to support the important role that strong CDCs can play in helping to renew and stabilize neighborhoods, small towns, and rural communities across the state.  Hearings were held in the spring and members came out to demonstrate the key role they play in their communities. 

MACDC also decided this year to substantially increase its involvement in federal policy work. We worked closely with our colleagues in Massachusetts and through our national partners – in particular the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations – to support new initiatives in Congress and the Obama Administration. We helped secure billions of dollars in new resources through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the Tax Credit Exchange Program and the Tax Credit Assistance Program. We also began working on key federal policy issues such as CRA Modernization, CDC financial assistance and small business development. Through our leadership within NACEDA, MACDC was also able to meet with high level officials in the Obama Administration such as Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and Xavier de Souza Briggs, Associate Director for General Government Programs. We expect to see many opportunities to collaborate with the new Administration to support policies and programs that strengthen the field. 

 

MACDC’s leadership on state and national community economic development policy illustrates the power of local community based groups working together to not only improve their individual communities but to impact state and federal policies that help every community.  MACDC’s Campaign for Our Neighborhoods will build on that success as we face the economic challenges and opportunities for the next few years.