WCHR looking forward to growth in 2022

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March 17, 2022

We’re off to a strong start in 2022 at Worcester Community Housing Resources – with four new hires to announce and an expanding base of programs.

We are especially grateful to our 30 funders and partners. In particular, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation continues to step up and make critical investments to support our comprehensive work to create more and connect those in need with affordable housing. Most recently they awarded WCHR significant funds to support the Landlord Liaison Program.

We look forward to sharing our continued progress with you in this regular newsletter.

Sincerely,

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Jennifer Schanck-Bolwell

Executive Director

Worcester Business Journal highlights lack of deeply affordable units, market-rate housing

WCHR executive director Jennifer Schanck-Bolwell and director of development Andrew Howarth were both quoted this winter in a Worcester Business Journal piece highlighting the lack of affordable housing in Worcester.

The article notes that, while Massachusetts saw 8 percent population growth in the past decade, new housing developments may “actually be leaving significant portions of the population unhoused.”

“Generally, in a development, they may have deeply affordable ones, but it might be one or two units out of 50 units. So does it help? Of course, every unit put online helps. Does it make a dent? Maybe not as much,” Schanck-Bolwell told the Journal.

“The rate of new construction and adaptive reuse [into] market-rate housing is something we just haven’t seen before,” said Howarth. “It's a trend that demands a high market rent because construction costs are expensive, and especially expensive nowadays.”

WCHR is Growing!

We’re happy to announce three new staff additions to our Community Loan Fund, Financial Coaching and Landlord Liaison Programs!

Rosa Marias Salas’ hiring as our Community Loan Fund director is the culmination of her years of experience in the business. WCHR’s Community Loan Fund is a pool of over $4 million in contributions and capital investments that provides low-interest financing to homeowners who need assistance with significant home repairs and to individuals and organizations who develop affordable housing. Rosa helps simplify the loan process and guides clients through today’s maze of Loan options.

Tamara A. Matama, MSA is our new financial coach, working one on one with our tenants to help implement tools to improve their financial health. Matama’s hiring was made possible through a $219,000 grant from the Massachusetts Division of Banks, which we’ve used to launch a financial literacy and debt counseling program. The program will include sessions with Matama designed to increase the participants’ financial literacy and health while reducing overall debt.

No one is better suited to run our Landlord Liaison Program than Olivia Cepeda, who has been with WCHR since 2014. There is a greater need for housing than ever before, although many available units are not listed online or easily found. The Landlord Liaison program is working to close that gap – through direct contact with around 30 property owners to date, WCHR has assisted 16 individuals and families in finding housing in Worcester since the program’s launch 5 months ago. If you are an interested property owner, please connect with Olivia at ocepeda@wchr.org.

Investing in Our Homes

Spring is almost here, and like most of you, WCHR is not only cleaning up, but continuing to invest in long-term maintenance of our housing units.

WCHR has a comprehensive program to regularly renovate all of our 112 rental units, including replacing flooring, kitchen cabinets and appliances, painting and ensuring that other apartment features are updated to stay modern and efficient for our residents. Investing in our buildings is an important part of serving our community and residents, so this spring we’ll be doing more exterior painting and masonry work, as well as upgrading our buildings’ wheelchair ramps and accessibility features.

WCHR has also added Sean Griffin to our staff as Affordable Housing Developer. In this position he will be the lead developer on some of our new construction projects, and will work closely with Director of Development Andy Howarth. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about these exciting projects.

Sean’s expertise will make him a great asset to WCHR and all of our clients.

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866 Main St., which contains 16 single-room occupancy units

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