Years in the making, a housing project in Holyoke, Massachusetts is going up – and it’s going up fast.
Phase II of the South Holyoke Homes project is well underway – with duplexes popping up rapidly after at least a decade of planning.
“I drove down here Monday morning, there was nothing, and by Monday afternoon, we had a house completely constructed,” Matthew Mainville, Executive Director of the Holyoke Housing Authority, told WAMC Tuesday morning.
Overseen by the HHA, construction crews have been stacking modular units off Clemente Street since the start of the week. By Tuesday morning, a second, three-story structure was nearly in place as HHA and city leaders gathered in front of them to mark the progress.
“The units have been built in a factory, then delivered to site here - we’re placing one of the sites with the most number of units here - there’s three other sites with a total of 20 home ownership units,” said Sarah Meir-Zimbler, the HHA’s director of development, referencing the other duplexes to be built along Clemente and S. East streets. “All 20 units will be ready this summer. We’ll start taking applications later this month, and we’re hoping to get homeowners in these units in the fall.”
Think Lego bricks, but with 3- to 4-bedrooms and on-street parking
Assembled in Pennsylvania by manufacturer Ritz-Craft Corporation (RC2), a number of the modular pieces are sitting down the street – ready to be towed to the next site.
Project partners Western Builders say almost 60 of the rectangular pieces will be stacked and installed, forming 20 “affordable townhomes” across ten duplexes.
Close by is a large, single structure sporting 12 rental units — Phase I of the project, completed two years prior. Near that – the lot that’s been allotted for Phase III, designed to include 40 units of rental housing.
Filming almost every block being crane-lifted and bolted into place since Monday was Ward 2 City Councilor Carmen Ocasio. She tells WAMC seeing the progress in her neighborhood is something special – allowing for more families to potentially move in or move up in South Holyoke.
“I'm just so happy - to be a city councilor [and] a resident of South Holyoke for 52 years, and being part of this project meant a lot to me,” she said. “Seeing it come to life is amazing - it's amazing. I'm so hyped up right now!”
A neighborhood-specific approach to developing housing
It’s a stretch of the city where home ownership is astronomically low, says Mayor Joshua Garcia – with over 90 percent of the housing believed to be rentals.
It’s also part of the city with one of, if not the lowest median household income (about $20,000 or less the mayor says, referencing the census tract covering South Holyoke)
Garcia himself grew up in this neighborhood and says the project is personal for him.
“When you have mixed-income neighborhoods, a combination of rental and home ownership - that creates vibrant neighborhoods and so, this approach that this city has undertaken 15 years ago is one that is really going to move the needle in improving the quality of life in this neighborhood,” Garcia said. “And it's not just home ownership - this neighborhood, coupled with other projects it has underwent: infrastructure upgrades, sidewalk, streets, landscapes, pipes, street lamps - it's a very different neighborhood from what I remember when I was a kid, and this is going to be great for future generations to come.”
The project is being supported in-part by $3.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding through the city, as well as over $7 million from MassHousing.
It’s also received support from a number of stakeholders, says Mainville, who notes getting more housing online is a priority – especially for would-be, first-time home buyers.
“We want as many tools in the toolbox as we can, and so if we're able to provide that first-time homebuyer an opportunity to get into a home so they can build generational wealth - we're just super excited to be able to provide as many opportunities as we can as a housing authority,” he said.
Applications for Phase II will be available either later in April or May. Meir-Zimbler says applicants will need a mortgage pre-approval, and that a lottery drawing for the units will be held later in the year.
The plan is to sell the 3-4 bedroom homes totaling 1,680 and 1,860 square-feet to families at either 80 percent or 100 percent of the area median income.
