Communities across Massachusetts, including Springfield and Worcester, are set to share in $227 million in state grant money aimed at encouraging the development of affordable housing.
Gov. Maura Healey, joined by state Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus, announced the awards during an event in Danvers on Thursday.
The money, a mix of state and federal tax credits, and subsidies, will support the construction or preservation of 1,874 rental units across the state.
A variety of efforts, from projects in Boston’s Allston and Dorchester neighborhoods, to Easthampton and Greenfield also are among the more than two dozen projects in line for funding.
The news comes as the state Legislature weighs a multi-billion dollar housing bond proposal aimed at addressing the state’s crisis of access to affordable housing.
The awards through the state’s “Affordable Housing Development” grant program are “one of the most effective tools our administration has to increase the development of housing that is affordable for people across the state,” Healey said.
Along with the administration’s housing bond proposal, Healey said her office is “working to lower the cost of housing across Massachusetts to benefit our families, businesses and economy.”
The projects that received funding on Thursday include 1,731 rental units for people who make less than 61% of the area median income, the administration said.
A further 480 units are for those who make less than 30% of the area median income, and who often experience homelessness.
In Springfield, the money will underwrite the preservation and rehabilitation of 148 units at Northern Heights, including 19 that are below 30% of the area median income.
In Worcester, three projects, the Colony on Grove, the Curtis Apartments, and the LaGrange Lofts also will benefit from the grant program, according to the administration.
The grant awards are “critical in creating more affordable and livable communities across Massachusetts,” Augustus said in the joint statement.
The administration held its event at the New England Homes for the Deaf in Danvers, where a new construction project serving those living with disabilities is in line for funding.
“Danvers has done more than most communities to stimulate affordable housing development that meets the needs of its residents, but whether these efforts are enough to make housing security a reality for all members of our community remains an open, and vexing, question,” Danvers Town Manager Steve Bartha said in the joint statement.
