FLORENCE — The city is set to receive $12.2 million in state and federal financing to support two housing projects — $5.35 million for a new 30-unit development at 27 Crafts Ave. behind City Hall and more than $6.85 million to rehabilitate 120 units at Meadowbrook Apartments off Bridge Road.
Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Juana Matias joined state and local officials last Thursday for a tour of Meadowbrook to mark the investment, part of roughly $278 million in state and federal financing and tax credits distributed to housing development and rehabilitation projects across Massachusetts.
“This is a project that is very near and dear to me, both literally and figuratively, because it is right behind City Hall,” Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said of the Crafts Avenue housing project. “We’ve managed to carve off that area and create really great housing … Northampton, like the rest of the commonwealth, needs more housing. There’s no question. We need it at every level, but we especially need affordable housing and we need it now.”
The city, Sciarra explained, donated the Crafts Avenue lot to housing nonprofit Valley Community Development Corp. for the creation of affordable housing. She noted that 20 of the 30 planned studio apartments in the future six-story building would be designated to those coming out of homelessness.
The existing site includes a stairway leading to a parking lot between City Hall and the city’s Puchalski Municipal Building. A second parking lot for city employees is located at the bottom of the stairs along Crafts.
Preliminary plans unveiled three years ago show the average size for the apartments at 327 square feet. The building would also feature bicycle storage rooms, a laundry room and offices for property management, resident services, and maintenance staff on-site.
Meanwhile, Meadowbrook Apartments is about to embark on a $15 million upgrade to its units, which will include new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, windows, roofs, siding, additional handicap accessible units and landscaping, explained Aaron Gornstein, president and CEO of the site’s nonprofit owner Preservation of Affordable Housing.
The state’s $6.85 million investment in the renovation comprises about $2.8 million in state tax credits through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) and $4 million in state subsidy funds. Plans for housing on Crafts Avenue received $2 million in tax credits through LIHTC and $3.35 million in state subsidies.
Before the entourage toured one of the Meadowbrook’s 252 apartments, Gornstein explained that the complex is home to residents with an average annual income of roughly $28,000. He said Meadowbrook houses more than 100 children, seniors living on fixed incomes and disabled residents.
“We value the residents here. We have an incredible amount of support services for them and an amazing property management team here,” Gornstein said. “There’s incredible diversity here — we have a really unique, special population based on age, income, race, ethnicity … It’s just an amazing mix of people, and so we want to give them the best apartments possible.”
After a walk-through of the property, Matias, joined by a crowd of local and state officials including Jared Freedman, chief of staff for Sen. Jo Comerford; Kristin Elechko, western Massachusetts director of Gov. Maura Healey’s office; and Alexis Breiteneicher, executive director of the Valley CDC, sat down to talk with Meadowbrook residents.
“We know that the housing challenges from community to community are very different. We’re going to make sure that our rural partners know that we understand that they have needs when it comes to housing,” Matias said. “Today’s announcement shows that we’re going to continue to invest where investments are needed.”
