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Springfield councilors question housing RFP process, seek ways to help smaller developers compete
Summary
City councilors and housing staff discussed how Springfield awards city land paired with federal housing funds, with concerns that experience-based scoring favors long-established developers. Officials discussed mentorship, targeted scoring categories, and outreach to MassHousing to broaden competition.
Vice President Tracy Whitfield and city housing staff on Thursday pressed for changes to how Springfield pairs city-owned lots with federal housing dollars, saying smaller local developers face an uphill fight under current request-for-proposal (RFP) criteria.
The Economic Development Committee’s discussion focused on RFP scoring that emphasizes proposer experience and capacity, HUD documentation requirements and local efforts—such as mentorship through MassHousing—to help emerging developers compete for projects that use HOME, CDBG and other federal funds.
"I asked Lauren to send me the selection criteria," Vice President Tracy Whitfield said, describing why she convened the subcommittee. "It still feels like the same individuals are gonna be selected…if the criteria is what it is." Whitfield said newer developers who have done quality work can lose out because long-established organizations usually score higher on experience.
Director of Housing Jerry McCaffrey described the…
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