Gov. Deval Patrick last week announced his appointment of Ron Homer to serve as chair of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Authority’s board.
Homer has served on the board for more than a year. Mike Dirrane’s term as chair ended in September and he will continue as a board member, a position has held for 16 years. Patrick asked the board to consider Dirrane as vice-chair.
Homer is the president and managing director of Access Capital Strategies, an asset management company that he co-founded in 1997. Previously, he served as the president and chief executive officer of the Boston Bank of Commerce.
“Ron has served on the board for over a year and has the experience and knowledge in real estate finance that is necessary to carry out MassHousing’s expanded agenda,” Patrick said in a letter to the board.
That new strategy involves the authority focusing on critical areas: affordable housing preservation, workforce housing creation, and bond financing for state public housing.
“The preservation of affordable housing is a cost-effective and efficient alternative to the creation of new units,” the governor’s press release said. “Workforce housing opportunities meet the housing needs of workers across a range of incomes, including the poor and middle class, and aid in the recruitment and retention of workers in the commonwealth.”
MassHousing is an independent agency that issues bonds to finance single-family housing for low- and moderate-income home buyers and also mixed-income rental developments that reserve a portion of the project as affordable housing.
