Affordable housing complex opens its doors in Sunderland
The first tenants are moving into Sanderson Place as Franklin County’s first new affordable housing complex in years opened its doors on Thursday.
Located at 120 North Main St. and featuring 33 wheelchair-accessible apartments, Sanderson Place is an affordable senior housing complex that was six years in the making. Tenants were approved through a lottery over the summer and have been waiting the last seven months for the OK to begin moving in.
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Housing authority expands role in accessibility
Through a reconfiguration of the state’s Home Modification Loan Program, the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority is now better positioned to serve residents who need help making their homes more accessible.
The Home Modification Loan Program, which is overseen by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), helps people with disabilities or elders modify their homes with accessibility improvements. CEDAC is a public-private community development institution that provides financing and technical expertise for nonprofits and other community organizations in Massachusetts.
After serving as a construction monitor for the last decade, the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority is now taking on the role of a provider agency, meaning residents can apply for their home modification loans through the local organization, which Executive Director Gina Govoni said will open up the program to more people.
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Community Health Improvement Plan kicks off third year with reflection
Public health leaders from across Franklin County and the North Quabbin region gathered remotely Wednesday afternoon for the first Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) meeting of the year, kicking off the final year of the three-year plan.
CHIP aims to identify priority health needs, disparities and the factors that contribute to them; identify current and required resources to address these needs; reduce gaps in services; and overall, improve the health in our region.
In the 2021-2023 plan, three major goals were identified, which include reducing substance abuse by youths; increasing individual and collective resiliency by strengthening social connectedness for those experiencing depression and/or anxiety; and finally, continuing to evolve resources to reduce barriers for people living with or at risk for Type 2 diabetes. Within each goal, there are several identified objectives, with anticipated outcomes.
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CEDAC Announces New Partners In Western Massachusetts To Expand Access To The Home Modification Loan Program
CEDAC announced today that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP) has reconfigured its “Western Massachusetts” area into four sub-regions in an effort to better reach and serve homeowners in these communities. HMLP is a state-funded loan program that provides no-interest loans to those in need of accessibility improvements to their homes.\
Click here to read the press release.
Looking to award $335K
The Community Preservation Committee has started its review of the individuals, agencies and nonprofits that are seeking a portion of the $335,000 in funding to be spent in the 2022-2023 cycle.
“We received 17 pre-applications and 14 turned into full applications,” Christian LaPlante of the Community and Economic Development Department told members of the committee last week.
The project requests totaled $972,821, according to Community Preservation Committee Chair Travis Drury. Of the applications, $100,000 was requested for housing, $96,345 for historical preservation and $776,476 for recreation and open space.
The funds — which were generated through the city’s participation in a state program that allows a 1% surcharge on property taxes — can be allocated to support projects submitted by individuals, community groups, nonprofits and government bodies that enhance affordable housing, historic preservation and outdoor recreation/open space. Greenfield voters adopted the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in November 2020.
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CSO to lead $23M shelter expansion
The homeless population in Franklin County can count on seeing greater resources available soon as the result of a multi-partner development effort led by community behavioral health agency Clinical & Support Options (CSO).
The nonprofit was recently tapped by the state Department of Housing and Community Development to provide emergency shelter services to homeless adults starting in April, and administrators are planning for a dramatic $23 million transformation of the existing emergency shelter at 60 Wells St. The agency’s proposed design includes a renovation of the existing building, expanding shelter capacity from 30 to 40, and construction of a new three-story building that will hold 36 studio apartments.
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Sanderson Place featured in the Newsletter of the Western MA Chapter of AIA
Concerned with the lack of affordable housing options for
seniors, Sunderland’s Selectboard, Housing Committee and
Community Preservation Committee (CPC) searched for a
solution to this vexing problem. The fact is that small towns
have few tools to direct development and Sunderland had
no intention of owning or operating such housing. Then the
property at 120 North Main Street became available….
was this the opportunity we had been waiting for?
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Officials seek grant funding for new playground
In preparation for the coming grant cycle, Hillcrest Elementary School hosted a public outreach meeting on Tuesday to discuss designs for a prospective new playground.
The lightly attended meeting was led by Montague Assistant Town Administrator Walter Ramsey, Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority Community Development Director Brian McHugh, Gill-Montague Regional School District Superintendent Brian Beck and Berkshire Design Group Landscape Designer Doug Serrill. Designs presented by Serrill portrayed an accessible and modern community playground that would nurture sensorimotor development in children. Designs must be submitted for grant consideration by March 2023.
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No-interest housing rehab loans available for Heath, Hawley residents
The Montague-based Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority is seeking Heath and Hawley residents to apply for zero-interest loans for home improvement projects.
Thanks to funding from a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the housing authority offers zero-interest loans to qualifying homeowners for construction projects that bring their homes up to code. Brian McHugh, the housing authority’s director of community development, said the goal is to support 16 projects, but only eight have been funded so far — seven in Heath and one in Hawley.
The program started in March 2021 with $876,713 and $352,778 is left over from the CDBG grant. While this particular funding can only be used in Heath and Hawley, the housing authority provides a similar program to 24 towns throughout Franklin County.
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Housing Scarcity in West Region Pronounced
Kristen Tillona-Baker was presented with a problem this year when three separate families needed help finding housing they could afford in West County.
Tillona-Baker is the executive director of the Mary Lyon Foundation, a nonprofit that helps students, families and educators in the Mohawk Trail Regional School District through a variety of programs. Often when families have issues, the public schools come to the foundation for help. Tillona-Baker works individually with families to provide help with their problems.
For example, one family’s apartment flooded, resulting in the landlord having to renovate the apartment and displacing the family. While the family is now staying with relatives, they do not have a longterm plan for housing.
“West County is very difficult to find housing in general because the lack of production there has been extreme,” said Gina Govoni, executive director of Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority, based in Turners Falls. “Overall, there is a real affordability challenge in Massachusetts.”
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