
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Demonstration Site: Churchill Homes, HOPE VI
PATH, with financial assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, rebuilt a distressed inner city neighborhood as a partner in HUD's HOPE VI program.
The Holyoke, MA site consisted of 219 World War II era public housing units that have suffered significant levels of deterioration over the years and were scheduled for demolition. In their place, HUD, PATH, and the Holyoke Housing Authority (HHA) designed and constructed 272 energy- and resource-efficient townhouses and flats. Of these, approximately two-thirds are owner occupied, with the remainder designated as rental units. Some of the properties were constructed off site in order to decrease population densities and allow for inclusion of common areas. Phase I, completed in 2000, included 50 rentals and 60 owner-occupied dwellings, a park, and a community center. The development was named Churchill Homes, based on its location in the Churchill Section of Holyoke.
Now complete, Churchill Homes serves as a PATH demonstration project, showing builders and developers throughout the region that 'low-cost' doesn't have to mean 'low quality'. One of PATH's primary objectives as a partner in the HOPE VI program is to prove that affordability can go hand in hand with solid, dependable value in housing.
Preliminary designs for the project were based on turn-of-the-century Victorian housing that defines much of New England's traditional architectural character. However, the new townhomes and flats incorporated a list of 21st Century construction technologies identified by PATH as key components of durable, affordable, and energy-efficient housing.
Products, systems, and design/construction methods planned for the project include:
This project has been completed.
Content updated on 3/1/2007
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