Carolyn Valli of Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity and Brent White of White Engineering break ground on Monday for the new Prosperity Way housing development.

Valli recognized everyone who helped with this project.

State Rep. Leigh Davis and Fred Clark of the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust turn the soil at the ground breaking.

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Prosperity Way in Housatonic will the largest home-owner affordable housing development in more than two decades. 

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning for its new affordable housing project, Prosperity Way.

"You're on North Plain Road, but community has named this Prosperity Way, and it was really named to reflect their aspirations of what this is going to be for them in their lives. We've done years of community conversations and finding out what people wanted," Habitat CEO Carolyn Valli said.

The new affordable housing project will be located at 385 North Plain Road in Housatonic and will be a community with 20 single-family homes to help address the need for affordable homes in Berkshire County.

"This 20-unit development will be the first and the largest affordable housing development for home ownership in over two decades. So this is a great opportunity for people that live and work here in the Berkshires to be able to stay here and work in the Berkshires. And we have multiple area median incomes so that it'll be a mixed income community, so people earning up to 100 percent would be able to buy and folks earning as low as 60 percent would be able to still afford to purchase a home here," Valli said. 

In the first phase of construction, John Sarno and his team at general contracting company 377 Builders will donate the time to put together a modular ranch home and there will be a "women builds" to help women build their construction skills, which hasn't happened since the pandemic.

"377 Builders has pledged a week's worth of professional building and he's also worked with helping us do some resource development for that house," said Valli. "But they will begin that house in two weeks, and then we'll start having women builds, which a women build is where women come together to really hone their construction skills. And it's also a fundraising opportunity to help put some funds into the project."

The project was first envisioned in 2019 and the land was bought by the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust for $175,000 to promote affordable housing in South County. It was designed with feedback from neighbors and community members.

"What they wanted was a common green so that they could create their own community around it. They wanted to have porches so that they could, you know, really develop a resident-led ability to make decisions about their community," said Valli. "So we were lucky enough to be able to work with the town of Great Barrington, who was able to secure us a MassWorks grant, because this land didn't have water, it didn't have electric, it didn't have sewer, so we really needed to get an infrastructure in. And the state was able to give us, through the town, $3.2 million to build this infrastructure."

The project was slowed by the pandemic but the vision never faltered.

"The biggest concern now is the differential in the construction costs from where our first projections were to where they are now," she said. "Construction costs have more than tripled. So that's been a challenge, but we're committed to keep working on that as well, so we'll see what goes there. But it's really about our partnerships that are really going to make this project great."

Valli is excited to see the development of the space and the families this will help. She hopes the first six units will be sold by Christmas.

"I can literally live there, and in my mind's eye, see all the families that'll be living there and the kids playing on the lawns, and knowing that we, you know, we were really part of a community that built this so that people could live and work and stay here in the Berkshires, especially young people, because we see so many of them having to leave because they just can't afford housing," she said.

State Rep. Leigh Davis spoke about her time without housing and how much it means to have this project here.

"Home ownership was something that I cared very, very deeply, deeply for, and it was something that I wanted to provide for my children. I wanted to give them that foundation, that sense of security, that feeling of hope. And for me, this represents hope. This represents the feeling of a community coming together and saying, we're going to solve this problem together. And so I am so thankful and so grateful for the work of Habitat, for Carolyn, and everyone here at the Affordable Housing Trust," Davis said.

Brent White with White Engineering, Fred Clark with the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust, and Central Berkshire Habitat Board Treasurer Lou Coelho, also made remarks about how much this project means to them.

Valli and White each tossed a shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony.

"It's more than a construction site. It is a response to a housing crisis that demands bold, compassionate and collaborative action," said Valli. "Families across our region are working harder than ever, yet, too many are priced out of safe, stable and affordable homes. This is unacceptable at Habitat. We believe everyone deserves a decent place to live. Home is the place where children do homework, where dreams are launched, where dignity and opportunity grow. And when we build homes, we're also building equity, stability, and hope.

"This project is not only about the houses we will raise, but about the lives that will flourish within them."

The first of the modular homes was scheduled to be delivered to the site later Monday. Applications for home ownership can be found here.

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