Recently Capital Strategic Solutions has been working with the Town of Avon, Massachusetts to embark on a Housing Rehabilitation program. Project Manager Tim Goddard has been working closely with Town Administrator Jonathan Beder along with the Town’s Finance and Building Departments, Board of Health and CoA to provide a resource that supports residents and improves quality of life. The project consists of a limited scope program that utilizes $200,000 from the program and miscellaneous income remaining from a previous housing program the Town ran from 2009-2014. These funds are being offered as 15 year, 0% interest, deferred payment loans that homeowners can use to make improvements to their property that resolve code violations and remove health hazards. Eligible projects may be funded in any amount up to $35,000 for projects in single family and multi-family properties, for improvements like removing lead paint and asbestos.
CSS and the Town of Avon worked with the Massachusetts CDBG program to repurpose existing funds for this project and worked with the Town in developing an application form as well as program guidelines for Avon to utilize. This process has taken some time getting off the ground but in recent weeks the program has been launched and begun receiving applications from residents. Home visits and work write-ups will commence as candidates are evaluated. CSS and Town officials will work with eligible homeowners to match them with the appropriate contractors to complete the necessary rehabilitation work.
The primary purpose of this project is to assist low to moderate income homeowners in making improvements to their home that not only improve the quality of life and resolve code violations, but also benefit the community at large. The program is designed to reduce financial burden, provide a comfortable time frame of repayment, and eliminate stress of such projects by connecting homeowners with contractors directly. Housing has been a large topic of conversation in the commonwealth, and it needs to be said that quality of housing is directly tied to quality of life and public health. Projects like this Housing Rehabilitation Project in Avon make a direct investment in their community.