Connected Communities: Providing Affordable Housing Residents with Unfettered Access to Digital Opportunity in Massachusetts

While limited digital skills and lack of access to computing devices are major contributors to the digital divide, experience in places like public housing in New York City demonstrates that these barriers can be overcome when affordable housing operators find ways to provide residents with reliable internet access. Pilot programs in Massachusetts give us a sense of the resources that will be required to furnish high-speed broadband in affordable housing developments. Here are rough estimates of how much it will cost to bring high-speed internet to all affordable housing residents, how much progress we can make closing the digital divide by making this investment, and funding sources that we can draw from to cover these costs.