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Massachusetts officials celebrate HDIP awards, announce $27 million more for housing development
Summary
Governor Maura Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and Secretary Ed Augustus visited Lawrence to mark a local redevelopment that will create 24 rental homes and to announce an additional $27 million in Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) funding to support roughly 100 more units statewide.
Governor Maura Healey on Thursday visited Lawrence to highlight a downtown redevelopment and new state housing awards, saying the site "represents 24 new homes" and framing the effort as part of a broader push to expand housing across the Commonwealth.
Healey said the administration's expanded developer tax credits and the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) are driving rapid housing production. "In our 1st year alone, we've gone from 200 units a year to 1,200 units in just 1 year," she said, and announced that the state is adding another $27,000,000 in HDIP funding to produce about 100 more homes.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who described the awards as targeted to "15 gateway cities," said the program will fund 1,256 new units across communities from Lawrence to New Bedford and emphasized adaptive reuse of older buildings as a key strategy to revive downtowns.
Ed Augustus, the secretary of housing and livable communities, detailed several HDIP-backed projects and thanked local hosts and financing partners. "ICONO is a new construction project here in Lawrence that will add another 60 units along with new commercial space downtown," Augustus said, pointing to a mix of adaptive reuse and new construction among the program's awardees.
Local hosts and developers who helped transform a long-vacant property described the project as a community story: JoMar Companies' Wilkidia Masueta said she and her partners were "honored and humbled" and proud to add housing and retail space. A family advocate, Madeline Maldonado, told officials that housing is the central issue for many of the families she serves across Lawrence, Haverhill and Lowell and said the new apartments bring her "joy".
Officials credited a recent tax and bond package for enabling increased investment. Healey referenced a $5 billion bond bill and other measures that include expanded tax credits and child and dependent tax credits; she said the package and program incentives are part of the administration's strategy to make Massachusetts "more affordable, more competitive, more equitable." The governor also cited other related initiatives, including implementation of the MBTA Communities Act, the Commercial Conversions Initiative and federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) use alongside HDIP.
During a short question-and-answer period, an attendee asked whether the units would be available for purchase. The developer and officials said the Lawrence project is composed of market-rate rental units; staff noted some HDIP projects can include a mix of rental and ownership opportunities depending on the project.
An audience member raised the cost of converting a garage into an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), estimating about $60,000. State staff said they are working with the MassHousing Partnership and lenders to develop financing products that would help property owners convert spaces into ADUs.
The event concluded with brief closing remarks and thanks to local partners and vendors. Officials said they will continue awarding HDIP and related supports across gateway cities as part of the administration's housing strategy.
