ONE+ Program provides financial assistance to over 250 first-time homebuyers in Mass.

Boston – The ONE+ Program has unlocked homeownership opportunities for well over 200 families in its first year, according to a new report released by the Boston Foundation today. Led by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) and with the support of the Boston Foundation and partners including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Eastern Bank Foundation, State Street Foundation, and Barr Foundation, the ONE+ Program provides an affordable mortgage product––alongside up to $50,000 in down payment assistance, closing costs support, and interest rate buy-downs––to low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers from one of 29 eligible Massachusetts communities.

Launched in November 2024, the program has supported 255 prospective homebuyers, providing over $8 million in support in its first year. ONE+ homebuyers were able to purchase single-family homes, condominiums, or multifamily homes in dozens of communities across Massachusetts.

The ONE+ Program was the first programmatic investment of the Racial Wealth Gap Partnership, a coalition of more than 40 cross-sector organizations working to expand wealth in underrepresented and historically marginalized communities through homeownership. The group's research suggests a $25 million investment in financial assistance for at least 500 homebuyers could result in $150 million or more in wealth accumulation via home equity over 10 years.

"The ONE+ Program has done exactly what we hoped when we made down payment assistance the Partnership's first programmatic focus for creating intergenerational wealth in our community," said Lee Pelton, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, which convened the Racial Wealth Gap Partnership. "The success of the Wealth Gap Partnership's investment is not only measured in the home purchases ONE+ has made possible, but in the powerful stories we have heard from homeowners whose entire family trajectories have been shifted by achieving the long-deferred dream of homeownership."

The report, entitled A New Path to Homeownership: Early Findings from the ONE+ Mortgage Program, brings together data from the program's first 11 months and a series of interviews with ONE+ borrowers about their experiences with the program and the homebuying process in general.

"We are in one of the most challenging home purchase markets in decades," said MHP Homeownership Director Elliot Schmiedl. "For too many prospective first-time homebuyers, getting the keys to their first home is only a dream, or they end up using every dime they have for a down payment. MHP is pleased to partner with lenders and organizations to deliver another innovative financing solution that's putting homeownership within reach for hundreds of families who would otherwise be priced out of the market and putting them on the road to building generational wealth."

"Homeownership is a gamechanger for creating a pathway to a thriving life, and we are proud to see the ONE+ Mortgage Program and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership making meaningful inroads for first-time homebuyers across Gateway Cities like Lynn, Lawrence and Lowell. We need to take a regional approach to successfully close historical wealth gaps," said Turahn Dorsey, President & Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Bank Foundation, which provided funding to support first-time homebuyers in those three communities.