Boston Communities is a team of advocates and developers working to bring in the next generation of real estate firms by building mixed-income, transit-oriented, and environmentally sustainable communities that strengthen neighborhoods and increase economic mobility

LEADERSHIP

PHILLIP COHEN, PRINCIPAL

Phil has over a decade of affordable and mixed-income housing development experience working in both the public and private sectors. Phil's projects include over 4,000 units of housing and leverage local, state, and federal resources to create affordable and market-rate rental and ownership housing for families and elderly adults. Phil has worked with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, Workforce Housing funds, CommonWealth Builders funds, RAD and Section 18 conversions, and myriad local funding sources. In the public section, Phil wrote the 2015 Inclusionary Development Policy and worked on other middle-income housing policies including Linkage, density bonuses, and compact unit policies while permitting over $2B and over 4M square feet of construction including thousands of housing units.

Phil grew up in a half Puerto Rican and half Jewish household, is a musician, kiteboarder, and an instructor of capoeira at Mandingueiros dos Palmares. He holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the MIT Center for Real Estate, is the Secretary of the MIT CRE Alumni Association, is a licensed real estate salesperson in both Massachusetts and New York, and is an active member of the Builders of Color Coalition.

F. MARIE MORISSET, PRINCIPAL

Marie’s professional experience spans over 20 years. She brings a depth of knowledge in real estate development, investment, asset-management, operations, sales, and leasing. Marie also brings an expertise in financial services, management consulting, health care, and information technology. At Boston Communities, Marie leads all aspects of the development life cycle including financing and closing large mixed-income multifamily rental and ownership communities.

Marie is a Haitian-born native American who moved to Massachusetts with her family in pursuit of a better life and

education. While growing up, her parents were offered affordable housing in one of Nuestra Comunidad’s properties where her family resided for more than 15 years before purchasing their first home. This experience helped Marie define what it takes to create thriving and sustainable communities. Marie is an active member of several non-profit boards that intersect real estate development, childhood education, food access, and helping marginalized communities including the Builders of Color Coalition, Stetson School Fund, South Shore Stars, and Mass Farmers Markets. She holds a Master of Science in Project Management from Boston University, is a licensed builder, and is a Certified Professional in Commercial Real Estate.

MATTHEW ROBAYNA, PRINCIPAL

Matt brings over a decade of aﬀordable housing experience through a range of roles in the aﬀordable housing industry. For nearly six years, Matt served as a Senior Project Director at WinnDevelopment where he led eﬀorts on development projects in MA, CT, NY, and NJ for which he secured over $317M of ﬁnancing for the construction of 900 units of aﬀordable and supportive housing. Matt brings special expertise in complex ﬁnancing structures and multi-layered capital stacks, which includes working to develop a new tax-exempt bridge loan product with the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. Matt also brings signiﬁcant experience working with state and federal

historic tax credits and has completed numerous adaptive reuse and historically sensitive renovation projects. Prior to joining WinnDevelopment, Matt worked at what is now the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) on underwriting and funding Low Income Housing Tax Credit developments throughout Massachusetts. Prior to that, he worked as a Project Manager for a small non-proﬁt developer in Chelsea, MA, creating small-scale supportive housing projects in Chelsea and Revere, MA.

Matt grew up in an immigrant Cuban household, where he learned ﬁrst hand the importance of housing stability and home ownership for promoting generational wealth and economic stability. While hailing from Miami, Matt calls Dorchester MA home, where he lives with his partner and cat. He is a former rugby player, having held leadership roles with the inclusive Boston Ironsides Rugby Football Club. Matt also serves as a mentor for the Builder of Colors Coalition and was a member of the WinnCompanies Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, where his focus was working to increase the number of people of color in leadership positions within the company. Matt earned his Master in Science in Real Estate Development and Master of City Planning degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami.

HIGHLY SPECIALIZED

Boston Communities brings affordable and mixed-income development expertise paired with a deep understanding of local communities.

Development

Affordable and mixed-income rental housing
Middle-income ownership housing
New and existing communities

Permitting

Guidance through local permitting and zoning
Community outreach and organization

HOW WE WORK

We develop affordable and mixed-income communities by leveraging tax credits with State and local subsidies.

With a deep history of community organizing, Boston Communities engages in a community-first approach to permitting."

We support developers and property owners through the entire development process."