Central Berkshire Habitat Begins Work on Great Barrington Home
The house at 40 Grove St. was sold to Habitat by the town and its Affordable Housing Trust to create an affordable housing opportunity for a local family.
This late 1800s home is being renovated as the first step to Habitat providing affordable homeownership in South County. The town of Great Barrington and its Affordable Housing Trust chose to sell this three-bedroom home to Habitat as part of their ongoing efforts to keep the area affordable for those hard-working families that work in the area.
After renovations, this home will be made available for sale using a lottery system later this year according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development standards.
The lottery system gives all eligible applicants an equal chance of purchasing the home. Habitat will have trained volunteers to help people interested in purchasing this home available throughout the process.
With rental costs rising, opportunities like this one can give people a chance to own a home and build wealth for their families while having an affordable payment.
Habitat can only offer homes at an affordable price with the help of volunteers and contractors, so the call for those interested in helping out has begun.
Habitat's goal is to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope, and to do that it needs to develop a core group of "Habitat Champions" who will be able to shape the work the organization does in South County. Habitat welcomes anyone wishing to join its team, whether the are skilled or just want to learn and be a part of building something bigger than themselves.
In March, Habitat held an open house for volunteers at the Grove Street house as a first step to getting to know the neighbors and give those interested an idea Habitat is and does. In the past few weeks, volunteers have helped to shore up the building for safety, clean out the house's contents, and remove drywall. In the coming month, the foundation will need to be stabilized so that volunteer crews can begin the renovation work needed.
This project is just the first of many projects planned in Great Barrington and Housatonic. In addition to this home renovation, Habitat is working with the Affordable Housing Trust to build up to 20 affordable homes on a piece of land on North Plain Road in Housatonic.
"We believe that everyone should have a decent place to call home. Together, we achieve that vision, when we all come together sharing our traditions and customs to build a better community," said Habitat officials.
Check out the volunteer page at BerkshireHabitat.org or call 413-442-3181 to get involved.
Tags: habitat for humanity,
