Special to the Independent
Senator Sal DiDomenico joined local, state, and federal leaders including Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria at Cambridge City Hall to celebrate the $3 million HUD Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Affordable Housing award to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) for Boston, Cambridge, Everett, and Newton. The grant will allow these cities to study the idea of bringing a modular housing plant to our region. This way of building housing is new to our state and has the potential to speed up building timelines, reduce costs, and create jobs.
Senator Sal DiDomenico with HUD officials, MAPC leaders, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, State Representative Marjorie Decker, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Cambridge City Manager Yi-An-Huang, and Cambridge City Councilors Sumbul Siddiqui, Patty Nolan, and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler.
“I am excited to see these federal funds help communities in my district expand access to affordable housing and address the housing crisis,” said Senator DiDomenico, Assistant Majority Leader of the Massachusetts Senate. “This investment will help cities in my district and the state explore new innovative strategies to speed up the process for building housing which is exactly how we will fix the housing emergency we find ourselves in. I want to thank MAPC and city leaders in my district and beyond who are working to increase affordable housing throughout the Commonwealth.”
When asked what brought him to the days event, Everett Mayor DeMaria explained…“Joined by State Senator Sal DiDomenico, I was invited to Cambridge City Hall to speak about the importance of housing production and transit-oriented development aimed at driving down the cost of housing, one of the most-pervasive issues that our residents face.”
The event also featured Congressman Jake Auchincloss, U.S. Representative for the Massachusetts 4th District, Cambridge City Manager, Yi-An Huang, Acting Deputy Secretary of HUD, Damon Smith, Marc Draisen, Executive Director of MAPC, as well as other leaders and elected officials from Boston, Cambridge, and Newton.
The Mayor closed his remarks with this statement..”I want to extend my congratulations to MAPC on their successful application to HUD and I look forward to our continued partnership in actualizing the goals set forth in this PRO Housing award.”
Following the press conference, officials from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development lead a roundtable discussion about housing challenges and opportunities in our region.
This was a highly competitive grant program, with over 175 applications submitted from around the country. The MAPC region is one of only four other regional applications to be selected.