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Date: 4/5/2022
NORTHAMPTON – The city of Northampton will have a little over $900,000 of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money for the 2022-2023 program year.
On or about July 1, the city will receive exactly $693,839 in CDBG funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Funds of approximately $208,648 from prior years are also available, bringing the total amount of CDBG funds available for the program year up to $902,487.
On March 29, the Office of Planning & Sustainability conducted a meeting to present an overview of the CDBG Annual Action Plan for the upcoming program year.
According to Keith Benoit, the community development planner for the city, the money must aid low to moderate income families and address the elimination of any slums and blight throughout the city. The program itself plans to fund several activities to address priorities identified in Northampton’s five-year consolidated plan, as well as the 2022 Draft Annual Action Plan.
A breakdown of projects shows that the city is looking to address economic development, housing and housing support, planning & administration, public facilities and public services.
The one slums & blight project they plan on addressing with some of the money is the demolition of the old Moose Lodge at 196 Cooke Ave. The Northampton City Council recently just voted 8-1 to allow the city to acquire that property for the development of an animal control facility.
According to a chart provided by the city, $285,482 looks to be used for the Northampton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Bridge Road, which has been empty since 2011. It was recently bought for $2.6 million by Valley Community Development Corp. for the development of 60 affordable housing units. The project in total will cost around $25 million and include a mixture of studios.
“We’ve identified housing as a big need in the city,” said Benoit. “So, we’re excited to get this many units in the next couple of years.”
Meanwhile, a little over $100,000 will be used to fund nine projects from seven different agencies in Northampton addressing community resource access, literacy, employment readiness, legal aid to prevent homelessness, youth mentoring, food access and shelters for the homeless. Fifty-thousand dollars will also be used for the technical assistance of microenterprise businesses throughout the city.
Public facility projects will include Ryan Road Elementary playground improvements and Forbes Library bathroom improvements to make each of those areas more accessible for people with disabilities. A little over $157,000 will be used to advance the Community Resilience Hub project, as the city continues to search for a building to house those services for the city’s homeless population.
Benoit said that people may ask questions or submit comments regarding the draft plan by emailing kbenoit@northamptonma.gov, or by calling 587-1288. People have until April 29 to submit comments.