A total of 80 housing units will be constructed and renovated across Franklin County and the North Quabbin region with help from $2.12 million in grants and a $1.2 million loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.
The grants will support the development of 53 affordable housing units for seniors in Athol, 26 affordable senior and multi-generational units in Erving, and one Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity home in Greenfield.
“This funding is crucial as housing remains a pressing issue in urban, suburban and rural parts of our region, and communities face ongoing challenges in creating and maintaining rental and ownership housing for low- and moderate-income households,” the bank’s President and CEO Timothy Barrett said in a statement.
The grants and loans will be used for construction, acquisition or rehabilitation costs, and financial institutions that are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston work with local developers to apply for the funding. Awards this year were geared toward housing initiatives for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, formerly homeless community members and working families.
Erving
The largest grant among the Franklin County and North Quabbin projects is for 26 affordable multi-generational and senior housing at Evergreen Circle. The housing will be built at Care Drive behind the Erving Public Library and Senior & Community Center.
Rural Development Inc. (RDI) received $1.2 million for a combined grant and subsidy for the project, and a $1.2 million loan. Greenfield Savings Bank, which is a member of FHLBank Boston, is partnering with RDI on the project financing.
Gina Govoni, executive director for RDI, said the organization applied to the Affordable Housing Program early on in 2025, and was notified in December that it had been awarded the grant, subsidy and loan.
“The project itself, Evergreen Circle, scored very well,” Govoni said about the application. “We’re thrilled to see that and we’re happy to be working with Greenfield Savings Bank to move this project forward.”
The preliminary site plans presented in July 2025 by representatives from Berkshire Design Group and Austin Design Cooperative show that the housing will be located to the west of the senior center and the library, where a field and tree line exists now. Care Drive will extend into a 470-foot-long, 50-foot-wide roadway with a cul-de-sac at the end. Berkshire Design Group has run simulations of fire trucks successfully navigating this area.
The town is responsible for the improvement and extension of the underground water and sewer infrastructure to support the housing, along with the creation of the cul-de-sac and access to buses from the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA). Erving received a $2.42 million grant from the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities via the Community One Stop for Growth grants in November to accomplish that portion of the project while RDI handles the housing portion.
The multi-generational housing will feature two, four-unit townhouses with a combination of two- and three-bedroom units. The units range from 826 square feet for the one-story, two-bedroom unit to 1,257 square feet for a three-bedroom townhouse.
The senior housing site plan calls for a one-story building with 600-square-foot, one-bedroom units that are placed in one long corridor to promote social connection, with common areas and a screened-in porch. Both the senior and multi-generational housing will have in-unit washers and dryers, and on-site parking.
According to the RDI project page for Evergreen Circle, the apartments will be mixed-income, with “affordability targeted to households earning less than 30% [area median income] up to 60% AMI.”
Athol
Pequoig House was awarded an $850,000 grant to support renovating the former Pequoig Hotel, a four-story Classic Revival building built in 1894. The grant will support renovating the building, which was converted a few years ago from a hotel into affordable senior housing with 53 rental units.
Kyle Carbone with Pequoig House said the renovations will include modernizing appliances, making the apartments accessible per Americans with Disabilities Act standards and converting one of the two commercial spaces in the building into a community space that can be used to provide additional services for residents.
“For a year and a half now it’s been something we’ve been wanting to do and now we have the unique opportunity to modernize the building,” Carbone said.
The grant, in addition to historic tax credits and potential additional grants from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that the Pequoig House has applied for, will help with the project, which is estimated to cost $4.7 million. The apartments will get new flooring, energy-efficient appliances, and bathroom upgrades that include roll-in showers and LED lighting.
“Everything will be brought up to code,” Carbone said. “Making their home as habitable as we can is a priority for us.”
Carbone added that while the inside will be modernized, the outside of the historic building will remain the same, except for the replacement of some aging windows with new ones that will be more energy efficient.
“It was very important to the Historical Society that we not change the look,” Carbone said. “But we’ll be replacing the windows to a double pane that’s historically compatible. … They’re going to keep all the cold air out and look exactly the same.”
The grant will also support converting a commercial space on the property into a community room that will be used for blood pressure clinics and other programs for residents, as well as provide free Wi-Fi to tenants.
“This is exactly what affordable housing should look like,” said Justin Walker, deputy director of Fairview Housing Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting affordable housing that has been working with the Pequoig House.
Greenfield
Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity received a $75,000 grant to support replacing a “blighted structure” with a two-bedroom, energy-efficient, single-family home on Birch Street. Construction of the home kicked off late last summer, and according to Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Megan McDonough, is “going great.”
“We have lots of inside work underway — painting, tiling, cabinets and more. We expect to complete construction later this spring,” McDonough said. “We have been so grateful to the community for supporting this project and hope to find more infill lots in Greenfield to build on. What was especially meaningful about this project is that it took a building lot that formerly had a blighted home on it and turned it into a safe place to live for a family.”
Once complete, the property will become the home of Greenfield resident Hannah Heineman and her son Gabriel, who were selected through a lottery system.