Posted on September 16, 2015
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2015 ---The Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) will honor MHP Deputy Director and General Counsel Judith S. Jacobson with a Community Service Award at its 48th annual dinner and meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Jacobson will be one of three receiving awards at the CHAPA dinner. Also being honored are Joseph Kriesberg, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston for its affordable housing funding program.
This year's event will be held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston. Reception is at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. Guest speaker is Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report. For ticket information, click here.
Jacobson joined MHP in 1991, shortly after the state legislature was passing the Interstate Banking Act. This law required that certain companies purchasing Massachusetts banks make funds available to MHP for affordable housing. Jacobson was instrumental in establishing the terms of this bank credit line, the only one of its kind in the nation.
Since then, Jacobson has overseen the terms of every agreement MHP has made with companies buying banks in Massachusetts. This loan pool has grown to over $1.1 billion and is responsible for the financing of over 22,000 units of rental housing.
Jacobson has also worked to make affordable housing finance more efficient. She spearheaded efforts that resulted in OneSource, which provides borrowers with construction and permament financing using a single set of loan documents. She also led efforts to establish MassDocs, an online loan closing system that makes affordable housing development more efficient by offering one set of loan documents to developers receiving loans from multiple public sources.
This is not the first time Jacobson has been recognized for her dedication to affordable housing. She was named an “Unsung Hero” by the Women's Bar Association in June 2005 and was the 2006 recipient of the New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE) Public Service Award. In 2007, Jacobson was selected as a Fannie Mae Fellow at the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Besides her work at MHP, Jacobson has also been involved in housing efforts locally. She was a member of the City of Newton Community Preservation Committee and served as its Vice-Chair (2006-2007) and Chair (2007-2008). She was the Co-Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee of the Real Estate Bar Association (REBA) from 2008 to 2011. She is a member of the Newton Housing Partnership. Jacobson received her bachelor's degree from Clark University and her juris doctor degree from the Northeastern University School of Law.