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The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority has reserved up to $10 million for its Housing Capital Fund to provide financial assistance for ongoing housing projects in Cambridge.
On Sept. 12, the CRA Board released a memo outlining the goals of the fund. The program aims to give support to existing, unfinished housing initiatives, an approach which the CRA found to be effective for expanding affordable housing.
The formation of the HCF was motivated by an earlier pilot program – the CRA’s 2400 Massachusetts Ave. project.
In January, the CRA decided to invest $5 million in the project on the condition that the developers retained 4,000 square feet of middle-income housing in the area.
“2400 Mass Ave is an example of the type of project that could apply to the CRA Housing Capital Fund,” CRA’s Senior Project Manager Tess Hofmann wrote in an email to The Crimson. “Under the new fund, developers can apply for equity or debt financing, and are being asked to provide public benefits in exchange.”
The CRA requires projects applying for funding to include increased affordable units, supportive units, family-sized units, or other “public benefits.”
The evaluation criteria for developers eligible to apply for the HCF is still being finalized. According to Hofmann, the CRA is planning on supporting mixed-income multifamily projects.
“Within that broad category there is a lot of flexibility,” Hofmann wrote.
Hofmann confirmed that the awardees of the fund are set to be selected later this year or in spring 2025.
The CRA is hoping the program will help to combat rising housing costs in Cambridge. However, CRA officials cautioned that the level of success of the fund remains to be seen.
“The impact of the $10 million will depend on the number and scale of projects supported,” CRA Executive Director Tom Evans wrote in a statement to The Crimson.
“It is difficult to say what the full impact of the fund will be. We will not know until we start receiving and evaluating proposals and allocating our funds," Hofmann wrote.
According to Evans, the CRA will continue to work on other development projects even after launching HCF. The CRA hopes that the success of the new fund will be instrumental in shaping the future of the affordable housing market in both Cambridge and other areas.
“Finding new ways to inject public investment into the housing market to stimulate production is important,” Hofmann wrote. “If the fund is successful, it can serve as a model for other communities to replicate.”
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.
