CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town is applying for Community Development Block Grant funds for a housing rehabilitation program. 

 

Clarksburg could get $850,000 or more depending on if it partners with another community. 

 

Brett Roberts, a senior planner with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, presented the options to the Select Board at its last meeting. 

 

"We were looking over our portfolio, and you're a town that we haven't reached out to in quite a while, and I wanted to change that," he said. "You have a pretty competitive score with the state so we wanted to see if you'd be interested in the grant."

 

The grants, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, help small cities and towns undertake projects that benefit low and moderate-income residents. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll recently announced more than $4 million coming to Berkshire towns for fiscal 2025. 

 

This is slightly different than Home Modification Loan Program presented to the North Adams City Council earlier this month that focuses on accessibility.

 

Roberts said funds would be used to repair homes, bring them up to code, do lead mitigation or update roofs, windows, and septic. Eligible recipients would have income up to 80 percent of the area median income. 

 

"What that translates to is about for a household of four, that's about $96,000," he said. "We actually captured quite a bit of the population."

 

BRPC would manage the entire process, from bidding to construction to reimbursement requests, and it would be up to the owners if they wanted to put in more for the project. 

 

"We pay up to $70,000 with home rehabilitation cost, which doesn't get you as far as I want, but does get you pretty far," he said. "It's a deferred forgivable loan that goes on the lien, and essentially it depreciates in value by 1/15 each year, until you enter the end of the 15th year, and then it's totally forgiven."

 

If the property is sold (outside the family) before the loan is forgiven, the balance would have to be paid to the town for reuse in the program. 

 

"We've been doing this for about 15 years across the county, mainly, I'll be honest, in South County, Sheffield is a big town that we work with, New Marlborough, Otis, Becket, Dalton, that kind of area," Roberts said. "But we're excited to come this way."

 

In response to questions, he said these smaller towns tend to come back year after year. They have a waiting list for because it's difficult to do more than 15 homes in a grant because of the limited funding. 

 

If Clarksburg partnered with another community, like New Ashford, it could get close to $1 million, and up to $1.25 million with a second partner. BRPC is recommending Clarksburg partner with a smaller community to improve its application; plus, any liens paid up would return to Clarksburg. 

 

"There needs to be a lead town, and that lead town is the one that works directly with us and with the EOHLC, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities in Boston, and because they're putting in a little bit more administrative work ... Let's say 10 of those homes are in Clarksburg and five are in the other town," Roberts explained. "So you would enter into an intermunicipal agreement with the other town to hash out all those details. We can do that negotiation for you, but that's kind of how we divide it up that way."

 

Town Administrator Ronald Boucher thought it would be a good program, especially for the town's senior citizens. 

 

"I know a lot of people have come in and asked, 'Hey, do you have a program for windows, insulation, different things. I think it'd be great program," he said.

 

The board voted to sign on the application; the deadline to apply for the next round is March 30.