BOSTON – June 23, 2025 – The Healey-Driscoll Administration and MassHousing announced today the third financing commitment under the Momentum Fund, a first-in-the-nation state revolving fund to support mixed-income housing production. Today's financing commitment will advance the development of the Claremont Grafton, a new 233-unit mixed-income rental community adjacent to Grafton's MBTA commuter rail station.
The Momentum Fund was created by the Healey-Driscoll Administration under the Affordable Homes Act, the largest and most ambitious housing bond bill in Massachusetts history. This is a new tool in the state's housing toolkit to accelerate the production of housing – especially middle-income units – without relying on typical grant and subsidy resources. With this fund, the concept is to leverage low-cost capital with the expertise of private developers and incentivize already permitted and much needed housing projects to commence construction. By leveraging this new financing tool, more homes can be built sooner, and help provide much needed units for families, seniors, and young adults. MassHousing aims to support the creation of more than 1,000 new units of multifamily housing with $50 million of state investment capital and is evaluating how to further expand this goal with co-investment partnerships.
To date, Momentum Fund equity investments and other financial supports from MassHousing have helped advance the construction of nearly 500 new homes.
"The Momentum Fund is proving to be a successful new tool to accelerate the development of the multifamily housing we need," said Governor Maura Healey. "More housing helps to drive down costs and, with this third project, we're creating even more of the reasonably-priced homes that benefit our workforce and create strong communities."
"We need more homes everywhere, but particularly close to public transit," said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. "Claremont Grafton delivers on both of these fronts by creating rental homes with easy access to the commuter rail. That creates housing our workforce needs in the places they need it."
"The Momentum Fund is creating a housing pipeline outside of the traditional grants, tax incentives and financing that have previously been the levers we've used to create new housing," said Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus. "We know we can do more to help meet the demand and now with a third development this year, we truly are seeing momentum as we expand housing options for Massachusetts residents."
"MassHousing is thrilled to support the development of Claremont Grafton, bringing new housing to a smart growth location, and providing more housing choices to households who live and work in Worcester County," said Chrystal Kornegay, CEO of MassHousing. "Momentum equity has now accelerated construction on nearly 500 new homes. Thanks to the Healey-Driscoll Administration's Affordable Homes Act, we are putting innovative finance to work at scale, and working collaboratively to address the state's housing needs."
Massachusetts is a national leader in financing the production and preservation of affordable housing. The state's housing needs reach beyond traditional affordable housing. The Healey-Driscoll Administration's new statewide housing plan found that Massachusetts must create 222,000 new homes by the year 2035, in order to support a growing economy and meet housing needs of residents of all ages and incomes. The need for new housing production exists across Massachusetts, at all income levels.
Prior to the Healey-Driscoll Administration's Affordable Homes Act, Massachusetts lacked an effective tool for supporting the production of new market-oriented, mixed-income homes. The $50 million Momentum Fund, proposed by Governor Healey and enacted as part of the Affordable Homes Act, allows public financing to partner with private capital, in order to build more homes, more quickly, in more Massachusetts communities.
The Momentum Fund offers developers of mixed-income housing an efficient and predictable source of stable equity financing. Momentum Equity is not a subsidy or a grant, but it is designed to be flexible compared with other equity available in the commercial market. Momentum Equity financing is designed to blend with privately financed equity and revolve over time, creating a permanent source for mixed-income housing growth.
These new equity and mortgage financing solutions will lower the financing costs faced by housing developers and mobilize private investment in housing production, allowing new housing to proceed to construction in a higher-cost environment, and ultimately helping to deliver more housing to Massachusetts residents.
Momentum Fund financing will support the development of Claremont Grafton, a new 233-unit mixed-income rental project located in Grafton's Chapter 40R smart growth district, adjacent to the town's MBTA commuter rail station. The sponsor is the Claremont Companies. MassHousing has committed $9 million in public equity financing to the project, and MassHousing will partner with Berkadia to provide the project with taxable permanent financing from Freddie Mac.
"Claremont has been providing quality housing to Massachusetts residents for over 57 years. We are very grateful for Governor Healey's program to assist more construction for the needed housing shortage in the Commonwealth," said Patrick Carney, Chairman & CEO of Claremont Companies.
MassHousing previously committed Momentum Fund equity financing to the Residences at East Milton in Milton, a 92-unit mixed-income rental development by the Joseph J. Corcoran Company, and to Post Allston, a 136-unit mixed-income rental development by Eden Properties.
To date, Momentum Fund equity and associated mortgage financing has supported the development of a total of 495 mixed-income rental homes, including 104 new affordable homes. Additional financing commitments will follow in the coming months.
About Claremont Companies
Headquartered at Lakeshore Center in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Claremont is a privately owned and closely held real estate investment, development, and asset management firm. The Company was started in 1968 when Patrick Carney, Claremont's current Chairman and CEO, began investing in residential multifamily properties in Southeastern, Massachusetts. In 2003, with over 12,000 apartment and hotel units across the United States, Claremont began a disposition strategy in order to capitalize on the overall appreciation of the national real estate market. The strategy successfully consolidated Claremont's core real estate holdings while providing substantial liquidity to reinvest in new real estate acquisitions and developments both nationally and internationally.
Today, the portfolio consists of a total of seventeen apartment communities (twelve market rate and five affordable communities) totaling approximately 3,000 units, 10 operating hotels with over 1,300 rooms, more than 135,000 square feet of Class A office space, and over 500,000 square feet of warehouse space. Claremont additionally has over 1,500 units of ongoing multifamily development projects either in predevelopment or under construction, and several land sites for apartments, hotels, and luxury single family estates.
About MassHousing
MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 to confront the Commonwealth's housing challenges. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations. As a mission-driven agency, MassHousing uses housing finance to strengthen communities and lay the foundation for economic prosperity. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $29 billion in housing finance. For more information, visit the MassHousing website at www.masshousing.com.
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