Slowly but surely, a multi-phase housing project in Holyoke, Massachusetts has been moving forward. With the first phase in the books and construction on the second starting soon, planning continues for the phase after that.
For the past year, clad in blue siding and standing across Carlos Vega Park on South East Street, the first of several, future South Holyoke Homes buildings has been housing a dozen tenants.
The multi-story structure packs 12 units of affordable rental units, with families moving in over a year ago.
The product of years of planning, it’s also the first of three phases for the project – establishing what Executive Director of the Holyoke Housing Authority Matthew Mainville calls a sort of “beachhead” in the South Holyoke neighborhood.
All the while he says, demand for housing shows no sign of slowing.
“Just to give you a kind of anecdotal sense of the demand, for 12 units, we did a lottery - we made sure that we were in compliance with Fair Housing, and so we did a lottery - we had over 1,100 applicants for 12 units,” he said.
A year after finishing, construction for the project’s second phase is slated to start this fall – the end result being some 20 units intended for affordable homeownership.
The housing authority’s director of development, Sarah Meier-Zimbler, tells WAMC that if all goes according to plan, another lottery will be held in the winter for the homes spanning 10 duplexes on four different vacant lots in the neighborhood – a spot where residents have been vying for homeownership, but little opportunity.
“The South Holyoke neighborhood is 95% rental housing and so, there were folks who wanted to buy homes in their neighborhood, and there just weren't opportunities to be had,” she said. “There's been a push for a long time to bring more housing opportunities.”
As Holyoke Director of Planning & Economic Development Aaron Vega tells WAMC, many in the immediate area report incomes of under $30,000.
The spot is also home to a number of vacant lots that have remained empty over the years and were the subject of a 2008 revitalization study that, in turn, led to an urban renewal plan a few years later.
By 2019, the project came into being and the HHA was selected as a developer.
That same year, the city received some $6.56 million for the project via the MassWorks municipal infrastructure program – the largest allocation during that round of funding.
At times, the project’s been stymied - the pandemic, high construction costs and other hurdles have meant delays. Initial designs also had the housing plan featuring 90 units in stead of the current 72 – originally including 66 rental apartments and 24 affordable homes.
Still, with the project again gaining steam, including $500,000 for the project’s third phase via the state’s recent housing bond bill and another $200,000 from Housing Innovations and Programming, Inc., Mainville and others are upbeat.
“We're excited about where we are, and I think our board here at the housing authority recognizes the role that we need to play in the city, and have actually allocated some of our own dollars out of our reserves for all of these efforts as well,” he told WAMC.
The authority was also awarded an additional $2 million in ARPA funds from the city, allowing the HHA to "build all of Phase II at one time instead of taking a phased approach," according to the project’s 2023 annual report.
Renderings for Phase III, packing 40 units of rental housing, have been going before the city’s planning board, showing the structure intended for the corner of Sargent and South East streets.
With work still to be done for the second phase, an exact timeline has not yet come together.
Still, with other housing projects going on throughout Holyoke, Vega says the Paper City is continuing to reinvest in neighborhoods that may have not seen significant attention in years past.
As those plans continue, he says his department's partnership with the housing authority has been vital.
“Holyoke Housing Authority is a great partner with us, and particularly our Redevelopment Authority,” he said. “Under my office, I have the Redevelopment Authority, and it was our charge, if you will, to aggregate the property for Holyoke Housing Authority to develop these units so, that synergy, that understanding … utilizing the city assets to work with developers, work with property owners, to aggregate property - something that maybe the housing authority’s not in the best position to do, that makes sense – let's use our strengths and then their strength. Their strength is/has been … housing maintenance, but they're much more involved now in production.”
