Addressing the Homeownership Affordability Crisis
Anyone looking for a home knows that prices are sky high. The mismatch between home prices and wages and salaries is particularly acute in Greater Boston. MAHA is bringing people together to pursue state and local policies and resources that will bring more permanently affordable homes to market. We need a variety of housing options for households with different needs in both our cities and our suburbs. This development requires public support as well as resources. MAHA is helping to spread awareness of the needs and to organize homebuyers behind proposals that could make a difference.
If you are competing for housing and can’t keep up, there are many ways to make your voice heard.
Tired of looking? Can't find a decent home in your price range?
Click here to join others who are working to increase homeownership opportunities.
Protecting and Expanding Massachusetts’ Most Affordable Mortgage Program
MAHA organizing campaigns have helped over 20,000 homebuyers save hundreds of dollars per month on their mortgage payments through the ONE Mortgage Program. ONE Mortgage costs less because community residents helped design it. MAHA led the campaign in 1989, and we continue to bring people together to keep the program available and affordable. Our homebuyer class graduates and other volunteers meet with bank executives, state legislators and local officials. We write letters and emails, make phone calls, distribute information to neighbors and friends, and take other actions to convince lenders to invest in our families and communities. We work with our nonprofit partners in the Massachusetts Homeownership Action Network (HAN) to increase access to the program. Participating banks lower interest rates and eliminate costly mortgage insurance so homebuyers can build equity and stability.
Can you help us keep the most affordable mortgages coming?
Confronting the Racial Homeownership Gap
MAHA is working to close the racial homeownership gap in Massachusetts, which is among the worst in the nation. With 69% of white households owning their own homes, and only 32% of our households of color, we have a lot of work to do.
Affordable mortgage lending that is accessible to credit worthy homebuyers of all races and ethnicities has an important role to play. We are working to stop discrimination in lending. And we are campaigning to change rules and guidelines that unfairly deny people of color the opportunity to own a home, build equity, and invest in their futures and their children. In addition, we are researching and promoting ways to bring housing to market at a lower cost, and backing local efforts to increase opportunity and diversity.
Help us narrow the gap!
Increasing Civic Engagement
Our elected representatives know that MAHA registers new voters and educates people on where candidates stand on key housing issues. We contact thousands of our graduates before every election to make sure we turn out these educated voters on Election Day. Through face-to-face meetings, phone banks, postcards, letter writing campaigns, and large-scale community actions throughout the year, we connect our class graduates and other community residents to elected officials and industry executives who make decisions about housing resources and policies. In each year since 2003, MAHA's graduates have voted at a rate approximately 20 percentage points higher than city and state averages. We want to drive those numbers even higher.
Can you help us educate and mobilize voters?
