Funding will help create 11 new multi-bedroom apartments for women with children
BOSTON, MA – March 2, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — MassHousing has approved $150,000 in funding to help create 11 new units of affordable sober housing for women with children in New Bedford.
The MassHousing grant of $150,000 for the sober housing being developed by the Women’s Institute for Housing and Development at the former Ingraham School will come from the Center for Community Recovery Innovations, Inc. (CCRI), a nonprofit subsidiary corporation of MassHousing that creates and preserves affordable sober housing in Massachusetts for recovering substance abusers. CCRI to date has awarded more than $4 million in grants for sober housing for more than 1,000 units of substance-free housing in more than two dozen communities for men, women, families, veterans, the homeless and ex-offenders.
“This will be an important sober housing resource in New Bedford that will provide quality affordable housing to women fighting addiction who have children,” said MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason. “This grant will not only help mothers trying to overcome substance abuse by providing them with a structured and sober place in which to live, but it will also help their children who are severely impacted by addiction and homelessness.” Ingraham Place will feature 11 new two- and three-bedroom apartments and on-site childcare for approximately 40 women and children in the former city school. Other financing partners include the City of New Bedford, state Department of Housing and Community Development, the Highpoint Treatment Center and NorthStar Learning Centers.
“We are appreciative of this grant,” said New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang. “I am confident that the regimen and structure of the sober housing program will help put these women on the path to productive lives. This is crucial to the quality of life of their children. In the long run, everyone will benefit from this program.”
About CCRI
The Center For Community Recovery Innovations, Inc., issues an annual Request for Proposals to solicit projects for funding. The proposals that are selected need to meet CCRI’s current priorities and eligibility categories. The grants are typically used as one-time gap funding for capital projects that increase or improve the stock of affordable sober housing in Massachusetts. Other proposals that provide services for residents in MassHousing-financed rental housing, specifically those that address alcohol and/or drug abuse or addiction, are also considered for funding.
About MassHousing
MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $5.6 billion for rental housing and more than $4.8 billion for homeownership. For more information, visit the MassHousing website at www.masshousing.com.
Contacts
Eric Gedstad: 617.854.1079 | egedstad (at) masshousing (dot) com
Tom Farmer: 617.854.1843 | tfarmer (at) masshousing (dot) com
