Press Advisory: Boston Foundation to release Housing Report Card 2004 Thursday, Sept. 8

Boston – The press is cordially invited to attend the release of the Boston Foundation’s third annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card on Thursday, September 8, at a forum beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Boston Foundation, 75 Arlington Street, 10th Floor, Boston, MA.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2004 forum will include an overview by Barry Bluestone, Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, which does the research for the annual housing production update. The content of the report will be provided by Bonnie Heudorfer, Senior Fellow at the Center.

Their report will cover the mixed news of modest increases in residential construction in the region in the past year—and the continuing pressure caused by high prices and inadequate supply, which is fueling a “brain drain” as young skilled workers leave the area for less expensive urban areas.

The forum will document changes in median cost, supply, construction permits, and the impact on rental costs ad well as owner-occupied housing.

In addition, the Commonwealth Housing Task Force will provide an update of recent public policy efforts connected to the issue of affordable housing in the Commonwealth. That will include a status report on the recent 40B Smart Growth Housing legislation and the effort to hold local communities harmless for the school costs associated with building affordable housing. The status of state surplus land, the sale of which has supported recent efforts to increase the stock of affordable housing will also be discussed.

More information about the work of the Commonwealth Housing Task Force is available on a website launched in July by the Boston Foundation, and accessible from the Foundation’s website at www.tbf.org .

Providing the update will be the Co-Chairs of the Task Force, Eleanor White, President of Housing Partners, Inc., and Larry DiCara, a Partner at Nixon Peabody.

A panel discussion covering the Report Card and the Update will include Robert Smyth, President of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts and a co-chair of CHTF, Robert Kuehn, President of Keen Development Company and current President of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association, and Sarah Young, Deputy Director for Policy Development at the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.

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The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, has an endowment of almost $675 million.  In 2004, the Foundation made $51 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, and received gifts of $41 million. The Boston Foundation is made up of 750 separate charitable funds, which have been established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. The Boston Foundation also serves as a civic leader, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to build community. For more information about the Boston Foundation and its grant making, visit www.tbf.org , or call 617-338-1700.