GREENFIELD — Affordable housing projects in Greenfield and Turners Falls are receiving a boost as part of $8.1 million in grants awarded through MassHousing’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Montague-based Rural Development Inc. (RDI) and Florence-based Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity were among the 11 organizations across the state to receive funding to redevelop or rehabilitate 56 affordable homes, including 24 that will be designated for first-time home buyers. The funding round’s Franklin County designations will support a single-family home rehabilitation project on Cleveland Street in Greenfield, as well as six detached single-family homes on First Street in Turners Falls.

Greenfield

RDI, a nonprofit created by the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority, received about $250,000 to buy and renovate a vacant three-bedroom house on Cleveland Street in Greenfield. The product will be an energy efficient, affordable home that is sold to a low-income, first-time home buyer.

This will be the first project completed as part of the Rural Homes Program, a new initiative being launched by RDI in partnership with the Neighborhood Renewal Division of the Attorney General’s Office, Franklin Regional Council of Governments, the city of Greenfield and other Franklin County municipalities with a focus on rehabilitating vacant properties and removing health, safety and code issues.

“The cost to rehabilitate these properties is higher than what we could sell them for at an affordable price,” Gina Govoni, RDI’s executive director, said in a statement. For this reason, subsidies from entities like MassHousing are “critical,” she said.

According to Alyssa Larose, RDI’s real estate project manager and housing development director, the Cleveland Street home has been vacant for nearly a decade after being condemned by the Greenfield Board of Health for code violations. RDI has a purchase-and-sale agreement in place for the property and will need final court approval before acquiring the home.

Rehabilitation work is tentatively scheduled to begin this year, with the sale to a new homeowner intended for next spring. The house will be put on the market shortly after RDI acquires it and a lottery will be held closer to the completion of construction to select the purchaser.

Turners Falls

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program will also fund Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity’s construction of six homes in the village of Turners Falls. According to a proposal presented to and endorsed by the Montague Planning Board in February, the plan involves building “six all-electric, energy-efficient, detached single-family homes [on First Street] that would be sold to first-time home buyers with low incomes.”

The targeted land on First Street is municipally owned and one of two parcels within the area’s “Subdistrict B,” with the other under private ownership. The 0.65-acre lot, along with the former Railroad Salvage site at 11 and 15 Power St., was zoned as a “Smart Growth Overlay District” during last year’s annual Town Meeting to encourage affordable housing. Such zoning changes encourage the development of residential or mixed-use buildings, of which at least 20% would need to be considered “affordable.”

Megan McDonough, executive director of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity, noted in her presentation to the Planning Board that the organization aims to style the buildings to be “typical of Turners Falls and fit into the neighborhood.” All homes would be two-story, three-bedroom houses, with the exception of one more accessible single-story, two-bedroom house. The homes would be accessible via the alleyway, with a curb cut on First Street connected to parking.

The project’s total cost is projected at just over $2 million, with each home costing $334,393 to build, according to the proposal. McDonough said Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity applied for $1.2 million in funding through MassHousing, but she is unsure what the exact award amount will be as both parties remain engaged in the contracting process.

McDonough said field work for a Phase II environmental study at the site will start this month, and may yield a report by this fall. Construction is planned for next spring, contingent on Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity having the environmental assessment report in-hand, completing the 40R permitting process and beginning advertisement for prospective homeowner selection the preceding winter. This construction process would span two phases, each involving the construction of three units over the course of 12 to 18 months. One phase would begin in spring 2024, while the next would begin in spring 2025.

“The final sale price of the home and mortgage amount will be set based on the income of the buyers so that their housing costs at the time of home purchase do not exceed 30% of their income,” the proposal states. Habitat for Humanity “will commit to a maximum sales price not to exceed $200,000 per home.” For budget purposes, the organization is assuming “a sales price of $125,000 and a down payment of $1,000 per buyer, for a net purchase price of $124,000.”

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

]]>