Expanding Opportunity
In addition to ONE+Boston, MHP has been part of a state effort to increase homeownership opportunities across the state with another assistance program called MassDREAMS.
When used with MHP’s ONE Mortgage, MassDREAMS can deliver up to $50,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to income-eligible first-time homebuyers who reside in one of 29 communities that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible MassDREAMS communities include Boston, Framingham, Randolph, and the state’s 26 Gateway Cities. The program is funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The program continues to ramp up and during the first six months, MHP provided MassDREAMS funds to 193 income-eligible homebuyers – 78 percent to people of color and 60 percent to buyers below 60 percent of area median income. The average grant amount per loan is $24,000.
ONE Mortgage’s participating lenders have been integral to the success of MassDREAMS, with longtime partners Citizens Bank, Rockland Trust and Eastern Bank leading the way in connecting borrowers to these additional funds. So far, the top communities where buyers have used MassDREAMS to buy a home are Boston, Lawrence and Springfield.
“It’s been rewarding for our team to follow up on the success of ONE+Boston with a mortgage assistance program that has a wider reach,” said David Worsham, MHP’s associate director of homeownership. “MassDREAMS expands ONE Mortgage’s ability to increase homeownership opportunity in communities where historic barriers to home ownership have fueled racial inequity.”