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Habitat for Humanity North Shore
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS (Boston.com) - Habitat for Humanity – North Shore is preparing to launch two projects that will provide affordable homes to five families in Danvers and Lynn.
The new ventures come as the nonprofit is nearing completion of eight affordable units in downtown Peabody, and shortly after it collaborated in a successful effort to restore a Beverly home and keep it affordable.
The Peabody-based 27-year affiliate of Habitat for Humanity has also expanded its geographic reach through a merger with the international Christian ministry’s Cape Ann affiliate.
“It’s a particularly busy time,” said Donald Preston, president of the North Shore nonprofit.
Preston said with the Danvers and Lynn projects set to start soon, it will mark the first time that his nearly all-volunteer group will be working in two communities at the same time.
“We’ll be staggering the work at each of these properties so that our tools will be able to move with the stages of the projects. But it will be a challenge,” he said.
The first Habitat project in Danvers involves constructing a two-family condominium on Mill Street behind a former school the Housing Authority maintains as an eight-unit family housing site. The authority will shortly be conveying the 15,000- square-foot site to Habitat for $1.
“It’s a beautiful location, a perfectly flat piece of land, in a nice neighborhood,” Preston said.
Both units will be 1,200 square feet, with three bedrooms, according to Preston, who estimates the units will each sell for $125,000. The house is being built to meet energy efficiency standards.
For all Habitat projects, buyers must meet income requirements and invest about 300 hours of sweat equity in the project, joining with Habitat volunteers on the construction of their house.
When the Housing Authority received its permits in the 1980s to use the site, it agreed to develop no more than 12 units, all in the former school. But because of site issues, not all 12 were built.
Town Meeting in May eased the restriction to permit two units to be built outside the old school, allowing the project to go forward, according to Selectman Gardner S. Trask III.
“We are excited about the opportunity to have Habitat for Humanity building its first project in Danvers,” said Trask, who is also chairman of the town’s new Affordable Housing Trust.
In Lynn, Habitat is partnering with the city’s Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development agency to restore a three-story house at 6 Grover St. and convert it to an affordable three-family condominium for income-qualifying veterans and their families.
The housing authority is providing Habitat with $136,000 in federal funds to cover most of the $142,000 cost of purchasing the house from Fannie Mae, which took ownership in foreclosure.
The Habitat renovation will create three units, each with three bedrooms. Preston said the prices have not been set, but each unit may sell for less than $100,000.
Habitat hopes to begin gutting the interior in September, and if it secures permits, could begin constructing the units this winter.
“We are very happy to be working with Habitat. It will really have a positive impact on the neighborhood,” said Norman Cole, the housing authority’s director of planning and development.
Habitat is now accepting applications for prospective owners of the future Danvers and Lynn units. Go to www.habitatforhumanity-northshore.com. For applications to purchase the Beverly home, go to www.harborlightcp.org.
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Updated 287 days ago Article ID# 1708605
Habitat for Humanity North Shore
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