Catherine Racer

Associate Director, Department of Housing And Community Development

Kate Racer is an Associate Director of the Massachusetts Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD). Her primary responsibility is the department’s Division of Housing Development, which oversees the allocation of low-income housing tax credits and the distribution of state HOME funds, as well as the distribution of funds through several state housing production programs. The department annually allocates approximately $12 million in tax credits and $12 million in state HOME funds to all four HOME program types.

Kate has served as associate director or acting assistant secretary of the Department for the past thirteen years. Prior to assuming her current position, she was director of the state’s affordable homeownership program and special assistant to the Governor’s Cabinet Secretary for housing. She currently serves on the boards of the Washington-based Council of State Community Development Agencies (COSDA) and the Boston-based Massachusetts Community Partnership Fund.

A graduate of Carleton College with a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, Kate taught middle school and high school for ten years in Chicago and New York before moving to Boston and joining a development company specializing in Section 8 substantial rehabilitation projects. After five years in the private sector, Kate accepted a position at the state agency where she still works.


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