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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll doled out $164 million in state grant awards to 338 projects in 161 Massachusetts communities Wednesday and said the awards will lead to thousands of new homes and jobs as well as millions of square feet of new commercial development.
Healey, Driscoll, Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao and Housing & Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus joined municipal leaders from around the state at Suffolk Downs in Revere to announce the latest round of grant awards through the Community One Stop for Growth program. That portal gives municipalities a streamlined way to 13 state grant programs that fund economic development projects related to planning and zoning, site preparation, building construction, infrastructure, and housing development.
"These are going to support commercial investment. They're going to create great jobs, which is awesome. And they're projects, importantly, many of them, that are going to unlock housing production for more affordable homes," Healey said. "The number one issue confronting our state right now -- housing, housing, housing. Together, these grants will make a more affordable, livable, competitive and equitable Massachusetts."
The governor has traveling across Massachusetts in recent days to talk up how state budget investments and tax relief measures she has signed are meant to help Bay Staters deal with high costs of housing and just about everything else, and to drum up support for the policy-heavy $4.1 billion housing bill she proposed last week.
Healey highlighted a couple of the projects that secured funding Wednesday: $3.5 million for wastewater collection in Yarmouth, which she said is "going to unlock new development creating 350 new jobs, 200 homes and 120 hotel and motel units;" $2 million for North Adams to reclaim an old tannery; $4.5 million to Medfield to assist the development of the former Medfield State Hospital into 334 mixed-income housing units; $2.75 million for a mile-long sidewalk upgrade to connect a proposed senior affordable housing development to Pepperell's downtown area; and almost $3 million for the Brockton Housing Authority to upgrade utility and site infrastructure and support the private development of 400 additional housing units.
The grant award announcement was made at Suffolk Downs, the former thoroughbred horse racing track that is being redeveloped into a neighborhood with housing, lab space and more. The governor said that part of the project "is being catalyzed by a $4 million MassWorks infrastructure grant."
"This space alone used to be places that we all visited and maybe placed a bet here or there. [It] is now going to be a place that's delivering jobs and labs in new innovative ways, is delivering the type of housing we need, is going to create green space and opportunity to connect to transit -- making sure that our communities aren't just thinking about their proud past, but their bright future," Driscoll said.
For this round of Community One Stop for Growth program, the Executive Office of Economic Development received 783 applications from 239 communities. Of the 336 awards, 26 percent are going to a rural or small town, 33 percent to a Gateway City, and 61 percent to an MBTA community. The lieutenant governor said the administration "had to leave some good projects on the table" because the grants were 500 percent oversubscribed.
"Overall, these investments are going to lead to 8,000 new homes, 10,000 jobs, and 5.4 million square feet of commercial development. Think about that. That's just one round of Community One Stop," Driscoll said. "And I will say to our community leaders, you're doing such a good job in giving us applications. Legislators, we're gonna need some more money."
Written By Colin A. Young/SHNS
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