MassHousing Honors WinnCompanies and NEI General Contracting for Their Use of Minority and Women-Owned Businesses Across Massachusetts
Agency’s vendor program promotes the use of M/WBEs for goods, services and construction, creating economic opportunity for hundreds of working households
BOSTON, MA – MassHousing has recognized the efforts of WinnCompanies and NEI General Contracting for their utilization of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) in fiscal year 2018, which created economic opportunities for hundreds of working families across Massachusetts.
“Diverse contracting helps create economic opportunity and advance prosperity, while providing a tremendous economic benefit to the employees and families of these businesses,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. “In addition to earning competitive wages for goods and services, many of these companies do business in the communities where their employees live, creating stronger neighborhoods and a more robust economy for Massachusetts. WinnCompanies and NEI General Contracting have long embraced the many benefits of contracting with minority and women-owned business enterprises and should be commended for their exceptional efforts this past fiscal year.”
WinnCompanies, based in Boston, received the Property Management Award of Excellence for the highest contract award achievement with both minority and women-owned businesses. WinnCompanies overall expenditure was approximately $38.1 million at 43 MassHousing-financed housing communities in FY18. From the total, $7.7 million went to minority-owned businesses and $6.1 million went to women-owned businesses.
NEI General Contracting, based in Randolph, received the General Contractor Award of Excellence for exceeding their goals in contracting with both minority and women-owned businesses on a single project. NEI had a $20.2 million contract for the extensive renovation of the 173-unit Maple Commons housing community in Springfield, of which $6 million – or 30 percent – went to minority-owned subcontractors and $3.5 million – or 17 percent – went to women-owned subcontractors. NEI had goals of 15 percent for MBEs and 10 percent for WBEs for Maple Commons.
Overall in FY18, NEI had $62.9 million in total contracting for five MassHousing-financed construction projects, of which $19.9 million went to MBEs and $11.4 million went to WBEs.
“This is the 17th time that our company has earned the highest achievement ranking in Massachusetts. We appreciate this award as a sincere reflection of our culture and values,” said Arthur Winn, Founder and Principal of WinnCompanies. “MassHousing deserves tremendous credit for its national leadership in support of minority and women-owned businesses in the multifamily industry. They set the standard.”
“We believe the most successful projects are those that engage and reflect the communities they are built in. The tireless efforts of our Diversity and Compliance Department have allowed us to enhance project diversity and to participate more fully in the community and economic development interests of our clients,” said NEI General Contracting Managing Principal Josef Rettman.
The MassHousing Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises Vendor Program helps Minority and Women-Owned Businesses benefit from the economic opportunities created by MassHousing-financed rental housing. In FY2018, which ended June 30, the 409 rental housing developments financed by MassHousing generated approximately $221 million in contracts for goods, services and supplies. Of this amount, $38 million (17 percent) went to minority-owned businesses and $26 million (12 percent) went to women-owned businesses.
In addition, MassHousing construction loans resulted in $332 million in construction activity in FY18. Of this amount, $102 million (31 percent) went to MBE subcontractors and $52 million (17 percent) went to WBE subcontractors.
As part of its effort to encourage equal opportunities for M/WBEs, MassHousing tracks the expenditures of property management companies and general contractors that manage or work on MassHousing-financed housing communities.
About WinnCompanies
WinnCompanies is an award-winning national developer and manager of high-impact affordable, middle income and market rate housing communities. Supported by 3,000 team members, the company acquires, develops and manages affordable, senior, mixed-income, market rate, military and mixed-use properties. Founded in 1971 and operating in 22 states and the District of Columbia, WinnCompanies is one of the nation’s leading multi-family housing managers with 100,000 units under management. It is the country’s largest manager of affordable housing and the second largest manager of privatized U.S. military housing. www.winncompanies.com.
About NEI General Contracting
Since 1998, NEI General Contracting has provided a full spectrum of General Contracting and Construction Management services to the construction market. NEI offers Owners and Developers a fast-paced, first-class quality approach to any type of construction need. NEI has completed more than $1 billion in quality construction projects spanning a wide variety of types and programs. From residential developments, to senior living facilities, to historic renovations and restorations, to moderate rehabilitation, to institutional projects, NEI has the expertise and capacity to meet any construction challenge. For more information about NEI please visit www.neigc.com.
About MassHousing
MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $22.8 billion for affordable housing. For more information, visit the MassHousing website at www.masshousing.com, follow us on Twitter @MassHousing, subscribe to our blog, watch us on YouTube and Like us on Facebook.
