Connected Communities

Providing Affordable Housing Residents with Unfettered Access to Digital Opportunity in Massachusetts

Key Takeaways

  • Directing available federal digital equity funding to affordable housing developments is an effective way to close the digital divide
  • While affordable housing developers may face challenges in retrofitting older buildings and navigating state procurement laws, broadband deployment can be streamlined by bulk purchasing design and construction services, as well as by creating a unified procurement framework for public investment

Connected Communities explores strategies to close the digital divide in Massachusetts through targeted investments in affordable housing developments. Prepared in collaboration with the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP), the report builds on the 2022 MassINC-MACP digital equity action plan with a deeper look at the unique opportunities and challenges for these efforts in the affordable housing context.

The analysis and near-term policy recommendations contained in this report are intended to help affordable housing leaders, officials in the Healey-Driscoll administration, and members of the legislature maximize the impact of unprecedented federal investment in the commonwealth’s broadband infrastructure.

Topics

Education, Housing