June 18, 2004 - Donations advance low-income aid fund     By JERRY KRONENBERG / BostonHerald.com State Street Corp., Fidelity Investments and others are donating $5 million to build homes for extremely low-income Bay State families. State Street is providing $1 million to Home Funders, a group that offers financing for Massachusetts affordable-housing construction. Fidelity is donating $500,000, while the Baltimore-based Anne E. Casey Foundation is providing $1 million. Reebok chief Paul Fireman's foundation is doubling the others' donations with a previously announced $2.5 million matching grant. Last fall, the foundation offered to match up to $5 million in gifts to Home Funders. The nonprofit Home Funders provides low-interest loans to developers who are building projects that include units for very low-income households. To qualify for a unit, a family of four must make no more than about $23,000 a year - 30 percent of Boston's median household income. "What is commonly called 'affordable housing' is tragically and completely out of reach for many working families," said Dan Fireman, Paul Fireman's son. The younger Fireman handles affordable-housing issues for the family's foundation. Launched last July, Home Funders already has 126 affordable units either at or near the construction phase, with 145 more in the planning stage. All told, the group hopes to build 1,000 Bay State units by 2013. With the latest donations, Home Funders has raised almost $19 million of the $26 million needed for the effort. Back to Press Archives Page