Housatonic — Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity will be discussing its plans for an affordable housing development on North Plain Rd. on Thursday, Aug. 11 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is scheduled to take place at Housatonic Real Estate located at 402 Park St.
According to organization CEO Carolyn Valli, the housing development will be built on seven acres of vacant land. Valli said that the development will include up to 20 units of single-family homes that will range from three to four bedrooms per unit.
“The development will qualify for Great Barrington’s subsidized housing inventory list,” Valli said. “People earning between 50 and 100 percent of the United State Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) area median income guidelines, based on family size, would be the target population.” Valli said that the Aug. 11 meeting will be the first in a series of public meetings about the planned project. “We believe that it’s super important to listen to the people that live in the community and then design based upon what you are hearing, trying to address the concerns of the community,” she said. “We want to fit into what is already existing in the neighborhood and consider everything when coming up with a plan. We don’t just come in and go ‘oh, this is what we think and we’re going to do this.’ We listen to what is going on in the community.”
The need for affordable housing in the Berkshires has been a much-discussed topic over the past several years by residents and community officials. “I think the pandemic has shone a bright light on a need for housing for everyone at every level,” Valli said. “When you look at the people that live and work in this community, many of them don’t have high-paying jobs, but they are the ones who are critical to the success of a community thriving. They are the ones that are struggling the most. I think that we need to focus time and attention on their ability to make payments on housing that they can afford.”
Valli said that there is no timetable yet for when the project will start and will be completed. However, she did say that each house will be built sequentially one at a time.
The project will be funded through a combination of grant funding and a reserve account from the organization that has been created expressly for the project, along with various future fundraisers. “And as each house is sold, money from the sale of that house will go into the next phase of house construction,” she said.
Valli could not give a total cost estimate for the project. “Every time I look at the budget, it changes,” she said. “We’re always watching what’s going on with the costs of construction materials, but we will have numbers soon.” She added that the project is being undertaken by The Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust.
“They’ve been a critical partner in the project,” she said. “We rely on them for information about different things in Great Barrington, including feedback from the community.”
For more information about the project and future meetings go to the organization’s website.
