FHCHI - youth house - 11 Hatfield - grant - CPC,final report.doc
Northampton Community Preservation Committee
City Hall – 210 Main Street
Northampton, MA 01060
January 17, 2020
Dear CPC members:
This is to inform you that the project to provide supportive housing for homeless youth, for which you granted the Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals $275,000 in 2016,
is essentially completed. Occupancy is anticipated in early to mid-February. The project has taken much longer than originally planned, and the final cost is also much greater than
the first estimates. We thank you for your patience, as well as your further support granted to our partner DIAL/SELF midway along.
The main cause of both delay and increased cost was our inability to find one multi-unit building which met our parameters, and was affordable to purchase and renovate to meet the program’s
needs. Eventually we found a solution by purchasing a duplex house with two 2-bedroom units AND an attached lot on which we have constructed a new building with four enhanced single-room-occupancy
units, a community room serving both houses, and a staff office for caseworkers. The resulting combination of units for eight youth and other spaces is perfect for the program, and
more than meets our goals – we weren’t sure at the start that we could include the community room. However, the new building added a great deal of time for planning, permits, and construction;
and increased both the timeframe and total goal of our fundraising. The older building was renovated and occupied, with support services, as of summer 2018.
The CPC funding, along with the Friends pre-campaign funding, gave the project momentum to leverage a number of foundation and bank grants, as well as enormous grass-roots financial
support from the business & private community. We are very grateful for the Community Preservation Committee’s essential help in making this initiative successful, and thus extending
a lifeline to many homeless and at-risk young people over time. After all this time and effort, it’s very gratifying to us to see the full program going into operation.
DIAL/SELF and the Friends are holding an open house on Thursday, January 23 from 4:00 to 6:00, with tours to give the whole community a chance to see what we’ve done. We would love
to see you there. There will also be an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, February 6 at 5:00, which we hope one or more of you can attend. (Tours may be more limited at
this event, since some of the residents may have moved in by then.)
If you have any questions or comments, I can be reached at 413-320-1886 or rshart3@comcast.net. Phil Ringwood and/or I would be happy to provide any more information you need.
Rick Hart