Workforce housing in Boston area reaps windfall from GE campus sale

The state plans to spend $86 million of its $98 windfall from the sale of the General Electric headquarters site in Boston’s Fort Point on the development of hundreds of homes aimed at middle-income earners, often called workforce housing—and often difficult to develop because of the high land and construction costs, particularly in the Boston region.

That includes $60 million for homeownership projects, including in Boston’s Mattapan, per the Globe’s Jon Chesto. In total, the money through the MassHousing agency could pay for around 500 for-sale homes and another 260 rental apartments.

The state got the money because it helped subsidize GE’s would-be campus, which never really got off the ground amid the company’s downsizing. When the sale of it went through, then, in May, Massachusetts was owed $87 million, plus $11 million more in profit from the trade.

The disbursement toward workforce housing is a way to address the state’s housing crisis, the administration of Governor Charlie Baker says. As for where the other $12 million in GE-related windfall is going, the administration’s working on that. Stay tuned.