RND Consultants, Inc.
DBE/WBE/SBE Certified

Project Description:

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The City of Brockton was awarded a Mass Housing Technical Assistance Grant to assist the City and their nonprofit partners to identify equitable, long-term strategies to address challenges presented by abandoned properties. The City of Brockton will create a liability-to-assets style program to rehabilitate and return housing units into the market and remove blighted properties from target neighborhoods.  The Brockton Neighborhood Initiative will include a Workforce Training Program which partners with local community organizations to help promote project management, construction management, trade skills, and on the job experience for local community members. Upon completion, properties will be sold as owner occupied housing units to qualified first time homebuyers. The Workforce Training Program and Homeownership Program will include African, Latino, Asian, and Native American (ALANA) community members to promote Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI).

RND is supporting the City of Brockton and their nonprofit partner, NeighborWorks Housing Solutions (NHS), during the initial set up of the program. In order to execute the program Brockton Neighborhood Initiative, Inc. (BNI, Inc.) must first be approved as a MGL Ch 180 Non-Profit Corporation. RND is assisting the City of Brockton and NHS to help set up the by-laws for this organization and submit for approval by the secretary of state.

Once the Chapter 180 Organization is approved, RND will help BNI, Inc. apply for approval as an MGL Ch 121A Urban Renewal Corporation by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and community Development (DHCD). Once approved as a MGL Ch 121A entity, BNI, Inc. can prepare an Urban Renewal Plan identifying vacant, distressed properties for acquisition, rehabilitation, and resale.

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Role:

Strategic Advisory

Real Estate Services

Technical Assistance

Administrative Support

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Professional Services:

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• Create a program to acquire, rehabilitate and sell vacant and abandoned properties utilizing MGL 121A, Urban Renewal Corporations.

• Create an organizational structure (Urban Renewal Corporation Board of Directors)

• Develop a project workflow from acquisition to resale

• Develop a program schedule and preliminary budgets

• Identify potential funding sources (HOME Investment Partnership, banks, nonprofits, etc.)

• Incorporate workforce development/training program into construction model

• Outline first time home buyer requirements and candidate pipeline

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Construction Costs: $TBD

Date of Service: January 2021-Present

Completion Date: TBD