WORCESTER COUNTY—A $1 million low-interest line of credit announced last year is already making an impact in Worcester County, helping create 12 new affordable housing units across the region.
According to an announcement from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, the credit line awarded to Worcester Community Housing Resources (WCHR) has been fully deployed across three projects in Worcester and Hardwick. The properties — a long-vacant West Street building, a historic home in Hardwick, and a blighted house on Congress Street — are being renovated into quality, long-term affordable units expected to welcome residents by 2026.
“Having an extra million dollars to combine with our resources has been amazing. It allowed us to do three projects that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to take on,” said Andy Howarth, director of development at WCHR, in the announcement.
The largest project is at 49 West St. in Worcester, where WCHR is converting a deteriorated nine-bedroom property into seven affordable apartments. Six of the units will be reserved for residents earning 30 percent of area median income, with one unit at 60 percent. The project is being led by Black Equity Group and supported by $85,000 from the foundation’s line of credit, in addition to funding from Worcester’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
In Hardwick, $351,000 from the credit line is being used to restore a vacant 1880s home on Petersham Road. The project will result in three rental units for households earning below 80 percent of the area median income. One of the units is already occupied by a low-income family.
At 12 Congress St. in Worcester’s Crown Hill neighborhood, a property that sat abandoned for more than a decade is being saved through a receivership process. With a collapsed roof and destroyed foundation, the building had been at risk of being lost, but $515,000 in financing from the foundation’s line of credit is helping convert it into two owner-occupied condominiums aimed at first-time buyers.
The projects are still underway, but at least two are expected to move to permanent financing this fall. Once that happens, the credit line funds will be recycled into future affordable housing efforts.
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