Reconstructing neighborhoods: two case studies in foreclosed housing acquisition and redevelopment by community development corporations in Massachusetts

Abstract

Community development corporations (CDCs) played a central role in addressing the housing crisis of foreclosures in America’s urban neighborhoods. The success of CDCs, however, is closely tied to market forces, neighborhood characteristics, and policies at multiple levels, as well as factors internal to CDCs. What factors support or impede the success of CDCs that operate in such complex environments? We examined the experiences of two CDCs serving three small, ethnically diverse cities in Massachusetts regarding resources, policy, practices and local markets related to neighborhood revitalization. We derived lessons about the factors internal and external to these CDCs that affected their ability to acquire and redevelop foreclosed housing in the target areas they serve.

Keywords:

• community development corporations
• foreclosures
• neighborhoods

Notes

1. Under the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 23A, Section 3A, a gateway municipality is defined as “a municipality with a population greater than 35,000 and less than 250,000, a median household income below the commonwealth’s average and a rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree or above that is below the commonwealth’s average.”

2. Novel methods have been developed to estimate such impacts in communities similar to the ones examined in our case study, but mostly to support prospective analyses of housing acquisitions, and after the time during which the analysis for the current study was completed, see Johnson, Solak, Drew, and Keisler (2013).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David A. Turcotte

David A. Turcotte is Research Professor in the Department of Economics and Senior Program Director at the Center for Community Research and Engagement, at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He received his ScD from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Work Environment Policy/Pollution Prevention/Cleaner Production. His research interests include innovative approaches to developing more affordable and sustainable housing and assessment of housing intervention effectiveness in improving the health of residents.

Michael P. Johnson

Michael P. Johnson is associate professor in the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at University of Massachusetts Boston. Dr. Johnson received his PhD in operations research from Northwestern University in 1997. His research addresses data analytics and management science for housing, community development and nonprofit service delivery.

Emily J. Chaves

Emily J. Chaves is a part time assistant program manager and graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She has a master’s degree in Economic and Social Development of Regions, and she is currently working toward a second master's degree in Epidemiology in the Department of Work Environment.

Rachel Bogardus Drew

Rachel Bogardus Drew is a post-doctoral fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. Her area of expertise is socio-demographic drivers of homeownership and housing demand. She received her PhD in Public Policy from the McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Felicia M. Sullivan

Felicia M. Sullivan is Senior Researcher at CIRCLE, The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. She holds a doctorate of philosophy in public policy from the John W. McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Boston.