Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley visits TND

Aug 24

MassHousing’s Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay & Rep. Pressley made the case for investing in affordable homeownership within communities of color.

The Neighborhood Developers has begun construction of 62 new homes in Chelsea. Located near downtown, the 25 Sixth Street property will include 56 mixed-income rental apartments and six homeownership units, in a new, midrise building near Bellingham Square.

TND’s 25 Sixth Street is the first homeownership project in Massachusetts to utilize ARPA funding

The CommonWealth Builder program of MassHousing is a landmark initiative to address the racial homeownership gap in Massachusetts. The program recently received $115M of ARPA funds to create new homeownership and wealth-building opportunities in communities of color, making it the largest state-level program of its kind in the nation. TND is honored to partner with MassHousing as a program participant. As part of the 25 Sixth Street development, TND will create six new homeownership units, which will be affordable to moderate-income first-time homebuyers. 25 Sixth Street is the first homeownership project in Massachusetts to utilize ARPA funding.

Rep. Pressley with Chelsea City Manager Tom Ambrosino visit 25 Sixth Street just as site work begins.

We talked about efforts to address the racial homeownership gap

After visiting the construction site, Chrystal Kornegay of MassHousing and Representative Pressley engaged in a discussion around the need to invest in homeownership within communities of color. “We are starting at ground zero to provide some restitution,” said Chrystal Kornegay. While acknowledging that it will take many interventions and investments to remedy the economic harm, Chrystal noted how MassHousing was making changes in its homeownership programs to build wealth through homeownership within communities of color.

“Equity, equity, equity,” emphasized Congresswoman Pressley. It is important to be intentional about building equity, just as we were once intentional in discrimination.