PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Affordable Housing Trust awarded more than $860,000 in ARPA monies to three projects it felt pushed the needle on the city's affordability and availability crisis.

With an end-of-year deadline, the trust recommended three projects for funding, and extra American Rescue Plan Act monies were allocated to fill the gaps. The panel was originally awarded $500,000 to disperse.

Director of Community Development Justine Dodds reported on Wednesday that the city ARPA team adopted the trust's funding decisions made last month.  

Berkshire Habitat for Humanity received its full request of $240,000 for six new housing units, Hearthway received about $363,000 for a rehabilitation project on existing housing, and the West Side Legends received over $258,000 for a modular home project.

"I think the city recognizes that housing, as we all know, is a huge priority and these are three good projects that could really make a difference in the city," Dodds said.

"So they fully supported that."

Next, she will work with the city solicitor to make a sub-recipient agreement and secure the projects with a 20-year affordable housing restriction. The extra APRA monies came from changing guidelines and timelines that left awarded projects unable to expend all of their funds.

She reported that the city felt the trust's process was fair, reasonable, open, and well-thought-out.

"I think this demonstrates the value of the Affordable Housing Trust itself," Trustee Michael McCarthy said. "We can act quickly without too many strings attached and use our good judgment accordingly."

Chair Betsy Sherman agreed, adding "All of us have worked really hard to get here, to make it happen, and to do it in a reasonable, meaningful way."

Habitat for Humanity will use the funding to acquire three vacant lots for building: one in the Westside, one in the Morningside, and one on the north end of the city. There will be a duplex with an accessory dwelling unit, a 3-4 bedroom single-family home, and two additional homes.

Taconic High School's vocational carpentry and electrical program will assist with one of the builds that will be for families at 65 percent of the area median income or lower.

"I really like this one, personally," Trustee Matthew Lauro said during the September meeting. "I think it kind of encompasses everything we're trying to do."

Hearthway, formerly known as the Berkshire Housing Development Corp., found that it needed to do lead paint abatement on a property it owns and manages on George Street.

There are six apartments on the property for 50 percent or lower area median income and 60 percent AMI. Two units have been completed and the funding will support abatement on the remaining four units with an expected completion in the springtime.

The West Side Legends plan to build modular housing on Dewey Avenue for families of up to 100 percent AMI.

Due to a conflict of interest, McCarthy did not vote on the funding allocations.

It was noted that there was no application from the former Polish Community Club, which a developer is eyeing for a $21.5 million condominium build and has informally asked for $400,000 from the trust.

There was some pushback to redesign the site plan to better align with the spirit of the Downtown Creative District and the developer asserted that they would not do that because of the associated cost.

Reportedly, the project team was concerned that they would not have it fully financed by the end of the year, which the APRA funds require.

Over the summer, the trust discovered that the $500,000 in ARPA funds had to be committed by the end of the year. It was previously believed that they had a couple more years to decide which housing projects would receive support.

The U.S. Department of Treasury has updated its guidance over the last couple of months, having a couple of effects on the trust's process. Some $500,000 was allocated from the city to the trust and there was somewhat of a memorandum of understanding between the two entities that was believed to comply with the 2026 deadline, Dodds said.

"We no longer feel that that is the case," she explained in August.

"So what I have been told is that it looks like the arrangement between the city and the Affordable Housing Trust isn't considered to be obligated under the Treasury guidance and this is really going to speed up our timeline. We have to have everything committed by the end of December."

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