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DEDHAM, MA - July 20, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Bank of America Home Loans has opened a new customer outreach center in Dedham to serve customers in the Boston area and surrounding region. Bank of America homeownership retention specialists will be meeting face to face with financially troubled mortgage customers who are having difficulty making their monthly payments. Dedicated associates also are available to help customers facing hardship with their auto, credit cards and personal loans.

ANDOVER, MA - May 11, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) officials have heard it all when it comes to homeowners who tell them why they aren’t going to apply for a low-interest disaster loan.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The HomeStar program to help families retrofit their homes with more efficient windows, doors and other home improvements today passed the Energy and Commerce Committee, moving a program backed by President Obama, to a vote in the House of Representatives. The HomeStar legislation passed the committee by a vote of 30-17.

$18 million in relief for Massachusetts homeowners; $4.1 million payment to Commonwealth. BOSTON, MA - March 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- As part of her office’s ongoing initiative to combat predatory lending practices that contributed to our nation’s economic crisis, Attorney General Martha Coakley today reached a significant settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation (Countrywide) that will provide an estimated $18 million in loan modifications for Massachusetts homeowners, $3 billion in loan modifications for homeowners across the country, and a $4.1 million payment to the Commonwealth. Countrywide is now owned by Bank of America.The settlement, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, expands an earlier agreement that Countrywide reached with 43 other state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia in 2008 for loan modification for certain delinquent borrowers and builds on standards set forth in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) administered by the United States Treasury

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 25, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today hailed the release of over $490 million in emergency home heating assistance from the federal government under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), including more than $16.8 million for Massachusetts. Last week, Markey, the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation and a leading advocate of the LIHEAP program, helped organize a letter signed by 113 House members, calling upon President Obama to immediately release these critical funds

December 17, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced that the City of Boston has joined with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in seeking $60 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding to support energy efficiency statewide and the Renew Boston Rental Property Retrofit Program. Under the grant proposal, $15 million would support the Renew Boston program with targeted investments along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor utilizing a full compliment of incentives to afford landlords the opportunity to invest in energy efficient upgrades that benefit their tenants. Over 60 percent of corridor residents living in rental housing and many residents spend more than 10 percent of household income on energy. The program will also compliment the city’s green jobs program, including a pending $4 million U.S. Department of Labor Pathways Out of Poverty grant request.

New law, leveraging of public/private funds protects tenants. BOSTON, MA - November 30, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Standing with housing and community leaders, Governor Deval Patrick today highlighted a law he signed last week to keep publicly-assisted rental properties affordable and announced the roll-out of a $150 million loan fund leveraged primarily through private dollars to support and secure long-term affordable housing preservation efforts.

October 29, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Bank of America Corporation today announced a first-of-its-kind in the nation initiative to prevent tenants from being displaced out of foreclosed homes. The initiative marks the latest expansion in the City’s on-going efforts to meet all of the challenges presented by the foreclosure crisis

Latest HUD Grant Emphasizes Boston’s Continued Success of “Lead Safe Boston” Program. October 14, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Menino today announced that the City will be awarded over $3M in federal Lead Based Paint Hazard Control funds to reduce the hazards of lead-based paint in homes located in the City’s low and moderate income neighborhoods. The award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) is the tenth competitive federal funding award that the City’s Lead Safe Boston program has received since 1993. The funding, totaling more than $30 million, has enabled Boston to provide lead abatement services to more than 2000 homes citywide.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 1, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Congressman John W. Olver (D-1st District) announced that Franklin County DIAL SELF, Inc. will receive $285,000 annually in grant funds over the next 3 years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The funding will be used to provide a comprehensive array of outreach, prevention, and safe shelter services for homeless and at-risk youth through the DIAL/SELF TeenLine and North Quabbin programs.

Funding will provide job and housing opportunities, increase social services throughout state BOSTON, MA - August 17, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- As part of his Massachusetts Recovery Plan to secure the state’s economic future, Governor Deval Patrick today announced that 75 communities will receive $40.4 million in federal Community Development Block Grants to fund infrastructure upgrade projects, boost social services and increase housing, business and economic development opportunities throughout the state.

July 29, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced the City’s new Homeownership Stabilization Campaign, a comprehensive 12-month initiative through which the City has committed to spend as much as $18 million to help Boston’s neighborhoods recoup from the nationwide foreclosure crisis. Joined by state and local housing officials, Mayor Menino described the campaign as having a two-part strategy to help retain and support existing homeowners while adding new buyers to the market through bolstered homeownership programs

Boston, MA - June 11, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness honored Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. and the firm's program coordinators, attorneys Colin Van Dyke and Jehanne Bjornebye, for their dedication to the Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless. The firm was recognized at the organization's 21st Annual Meeting on June 9 at the offices of Nixon Peabody

Says City Will Apply for Additional Federal Funds to Help Move Stalled Development Projects Forward. June 01, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced the City has committed to issue the first Boston Invest in Growth loans, enabling important developments to move forward in three Boston neighborhoods, including a new shopping center in Hyde Park; a neighborhood market in South Boston, and a brand new hotel in the City’s Theater District. The three projects represent a $230 million economic investment, and are expected to generate more than 650 new permanent jobs and hundreds more construction jobs in Boston.

Executive Summary Details Focus on Workforce Housing; Continued Foreclosure Reclamation; Homelessness Reduction, Rental Housing Preservation