Working Cities Challenge kicks off search for collaborative leadership in Bay State

Policy Center
May 3, 2013 Policy Center

The competition phase of the Working Cities Challenge, which will award up to $700,00 to an anti-poverty program in Massachusetts, will be announced this morning at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a lead partner in the initiative. Twenty cities, all smaller than Boston and with a higher-than-median poverty rate, are eligible for the grant,

Transformative Redevelopment

Strategic State Policy for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

Civic Journal Policy Center
Jan 10, 2013 Civic Journal Policy Center

Transformative redevelopment describes public and private financial support for projects that catalyze significant follow-on private investment, leading over time to the transformation of an entire downtown or urban neighborhood. This approach seeks to repair weak real estate markets where development costs outweigh returns, creating a gap that impedes the flow of private investment; it contrasts

State launches Gateway City market rate housing program

Policy Center
Jun 20, 2012 Policy Center

The Patrick Administration announced a new first-of-its-kind state tax credit program this week to encourage market rate housing development in the Gateway Cities. The small pilot program, created by economic development legislation in 2010, provides developers with tax incentives to rehabilitate properties and build multi-unit market rate housing. This effort is a first step toward

Transportation costs for homeless students could transfer to the state

Policy Center
Jun 13, 2012 Policy Center

The cost Gateway City school districts bear transporting homeless students could be passed on to the state if the budget proposed by the House prevails. (While the House budget picks up the $11.3 million that school districts were projected to spend on transportation for homeless students in 2012, the Senate budget does not contain funding

Assets, not need should, define Gateway Cities

Policy Center
Jun 6, 2012 Policy Center

Research Director Ben Forman weighs in on why the Legislature should not expand the list of communities that are defined as Gateway Cities in a CW Voices piece. The article comes as the debate heats up over whether the State should change the Gateway Cities definition to include more towns and cities. In the article,

The positive fiscal impact of historic tax credits

Policy Center
May 29, 2012 Policy Center

For economic development spending, the Holy Grail is a program that pays for itself. This can happen when a state outlay generates economic activity leading to increased tax collections. In a recent analysis of the state historic tax credit for the Urban Land Institute, Ted Carmen shows that there’s a good shot that the state’s historic

Boston Society of Architects Explores Placemaking in Gateway Cities

Policy Center
Feb 29, 2012 Policy Center

BSA’s Placemaking Network – co-chaired by Christina Lanzl (director of MassArt’s Urban Arts Institute) and Robert Tullis (director of design at GID Urban Development) – hosted a lively discussion on how state policy can support development in Gateway Cities that builds and reinforces their authentic urban fabric. Click here for Ben Forman’s presentation to the

State releases draft market rate housing program regulations

Policy Center
Feb 29, 2012 Policy Center

The Dept. of Housing and Community Development has released eagerly anticipated regulations for the new Housing Development Incentive Program. DHCD will collect feedback on the regulations at two public hearings (March 27th in Boston and March 29th in Springfield). The Boston session will include a DHCD-led workshop on market-rate housing development in Gateway Cities with

The State of the Gateway Cities in 2012

Policy Center
Feb 8, 2012 Policy Center

It’s a new year, and annual census figures for US cities were recently released. MassINC has combed through these numbers to provide a fresh look at the state of the state’s Gateway Cities. This analysis reveals a sharp dichotomy. Gateway Cities are fairing well economically. Most are gaining population and most have recovered the jobs

Going for Growth: New Education-Housing Partnerships to Stabilize Families and Boost Student Achievement

Policy Center
Sep 20, 2011 Policy Center

Going for Growth: New Education-Housing Partnerships to Stabilize Families and Boost Student Achievement, the fourth brief in a series exploring policy innovations to spur reinvestment and renewal in the state’s key regional cities. Extensive research documents the negative consequences that student mobility – the churn of youth entering and exiting classrooms during the school year

Strategic State Policy for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

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