Way Finders’ City of Homes Initiative redevelops distressed properties in Springfield, MA and offers them for sale to first-time homebuyers.
Our goals:
- Revitalize vacant city-owned properties through rehabilitation or new construction and bring them back onto the tax rolls.
- Benefit neighborhoods and nearby homeowners by reducing blight and improving property values.
- Create wealth-building opportunities for first-time homebuyers in Springfield. Each home will be sold at below market price to ensure it is affordable.
These fully renovated or new-construction homes are offered at a below-market sale price to expand homeownership and generational wealth-building for lower income households in Springfield.
City of Homes broke ground in October 2024 and expects to offer six homes for sale to qualified buyers selected via a lottery process in early summer, 2025.
Location of first six properties
Map is not to scale, and property locations are not exact. Used with permission: Simtropolitan, CC BY 3.0 US via Wikimedia Commons
An innovative approach to acquiring properties
One of the ways that Way Finders acquires properties is through a new process called Special Attorney Receivership, or SAR, which was created by Honorable Dina Fein (retired). SAR is an offshoot of a traditional receivership, the process where a city seizes distressed property to enforce the sanitary code.
Typically, seized properties sit empty for months or years and may eventually be sold at auction to the highest bidder.
With SAR, the court system offers properties to a qualified nonprofit developer like Way Finders, giving it the ability to renovate the homes and keep sale prices affordable for first-time homebuyers.
Click here to read more about City of Homes in our News section.
City of Homes press coverage
City of Homes Groundbreaking, October 4, 2024
Click on the images below to view larger.
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- Way Finders President and CEO, Keith Fairey
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- Pictured, L-R: State Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, Rep. Orlando Ramos, Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, Way Finders President and CEO Keith Fairey, MassMutual Foundation President Dennis Duquette, Judge Dina Fein, Ret., MassHousing’s Beverly Estes-Smargiassi, and Springfield City Councilors Michael Fenton and Victor Davila.
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- First City of Homes property in Springfield, MA
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- L-R: Way Finders board members Alicia Raymond and Melissa Prohaska; Way Finders President and CEO Keith Fairey; Way Finders board members Jasmine Naylor, Lenny Underwood and Jim Broderick.
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- Housing Court Judge Dina Fein, Ret.
City of Homes is made possible through the generous support of these funders:
