Ground Broken for Affordable Housing
Ryan Davis
Northampton Gazette
NORTHAMPTON - More than 10 years after planning began to build new affordable housing units on Michelman Avenue, a groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held Friday morning.
When the 10 new units are completed at the Valley Millbank Apartments in early 2004, they will become the first subsidized housing in the city since the construction of Hampton Court in 1989. In addition, the 14 existing units at the site will be rehabilitated.
"This is a really happy occasion. This project has been a long time coming," said Joanne Campbell, executive director of the Valley Community Development Corporation, which ran the project in partnership with the Hampden-Hampshire Housing Partnership also known as HAP, Inc.
The new building will consist of four three-bedroom apartments, three two-bedroom apartments, and three one-bedroom apartments. The 14 existing units all have two bedrooms.
The new apartments will be affordable to households earning 50 percent to 60 percent of the area median income. A family of four could earn no more than $31,260, and rent for a two-bedroom unit is approximately $525, not including utilities.
Dozens of people from the agencies involved in the Millbank project gathered at Union Station restaurant to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking, even though construction actually began in December.
"This is a very important project that demonstrates the values of this community," said State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst). "It shows that we respect and honor the diversity that a community should have. We need to make sure that people aren't priced out of living in the community they want to live."
"This is amazing. This is incredible," said Peg Keller, the city's senior planner. "This is a project that truly took the long road."
The Millbank project originally began in 1992, when Valley CDC paid $500,000 for the property. The project was stopped in 1994 after a court challenge by neighbors of the property. A court ruling cleared the project was cleared to go forward, but by that time, Valley CDC was running out of money and considered selling the property.
Since then, the Valley CDC has secured funding for the more than $3 million cost of the project from a variety of sources, including the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund, which provided $1.8 million.
"At the beginning, I wasn't really sure I'd ever see this day," said Rita Farrell, Intensive Community Support Director of the Housing Partnership Fund.
The decade-long ordeal to get the project off the ground "shows the risks an organization like Valley CDC has to take to develop even a modest amount of affordable housing," said Peter Gagliardi, executive director of HAP, Inc.
Raymond Weaving, director of lending for the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, praised Valley CDC for "doggedly sticking with it to make sure there is affordable housing for people who really deserve it. The bad thing (about long delays in such projects) is that people who are in substandard housing now have to wait even longer, and that's sad."
Cambell noted that the people who will live in the new units work as retail clerks, human service workers, and city employees.
"These people provide services that are needed," she said. "And if they can't afford to live here, the community will suffer."
Additional money for the project came from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, MassDevelopment, Northampton's Community Development Block Grants, and Florence Savings Bank. Financing was provided by the Community Development Assistance Corporation and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation.
When the 10 new units are completed at the Valley Millbank Apartments in early 2004, they will become the first subsidized housing in the city since the construction of Hampton Court in 1989. In addition, the 14 existing units at the site will be rehabilitated.
"This is a really happy occasion. This project has been a long time coming," said Joanne Campbell, executive director of the Valley Community Development Corporation, which ran the project in partnership with the Hampden-Hampshire Housing Partnership also known as HAP, Inc.
The new building will consist of four three-bedroom apartments, three two-bedroom apartments, and three one-bedroom apartments. The 14 existing units all have two bedrooms.
The new apartments will be affordable to households earning 50 percent to 60 percent of the area median income. A family of four could earn no more than $31,260, and rent for a two-bedroom unit is approximately $525, not including utilities.
Dozens of people from the agencies involved in the Millbank project gathered at Union Station restaurant to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking, even though construction actually began in December.
"This is a very important project that demonstrates the values of this community," said State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst). "It shows that we respect and honor the diversity that a community should have. We need to make sure that people aren't priced out of living in the community they want to live."
"This is amazing. This is incredible," said Peg Keller, the city's senior planner. "This is a project that truly took the long road."
The Millbank project originally began in 1992, when Valley CDC paid $500,000 for the property. The project was stopped in 1994 after a court challenge by neighbors of the property. A court ruling cleared the project was cleared to go forward, but by that time, Valley CDC was running out of money and considered selling the property.
Since then, the Valley CDC has secured funding for the more than $3 million cost of the project from a variety of sources, including the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund, which provided $1.8 million.
"At the beginning, I wasn't really sure I'd ever see this day," said Rita Farrell, Intensive Community Support Director of the Housing Partnership Fund.
The decade-long ordeal to get the project off the ground "shows the risks an organization like Valley CDC has to take to develop even a modest amount of affordable housing," said Peter Gagliardi, executive director of HAP, Inc.
Raymond Weaving, director of lending for the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, praised Valley CDC for "doggedly sticking with it to make sure there is affordable housing for people who really deserve it. The bad thing (about long delays in such projects) is that people who are in substandard housing now have to wait even longer, and that's sad."
Cambell noted that the people who will live in the new units work as retail clerks, human service workers, and city employees.
"These people provide services that are needed," she said. "And if they can't afford to live here, the community will suffer."
Additional money for the project came from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, MassDevelopment, Northampton's Community Development Block Grants, and Florence Savings Bank. Financing was provided by the Community Development Assistance Corporation and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation.
This article was
written by Ryan Davis
and published by Northampton Gazette
on Saturday, February 1