By Marcia Parnell
In September 2024 the Beat reported the good news that Becket’s March 2024 $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for a Becket-Dalton Housing Rehabilitation Program (HRP) had been awarded. Fourteen months later the effort will wind down by year end with more good news.
Six homes in Becket, at an average cost of $88,813, will have been rehabilitated, improving the safety and security of residents ranging in age from five to seventy-one years in households with from one to six residents. The type of work done includes new roofing, new windows, addressing failing wells and septic systems, lead paint testing and mitigation, new siding, electrical work, and more. According to Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) Principal Planner for Housing Brett Roberts, who administered the program, “it was probably one of the smoothest grants BRPC has run in a long time. There were very few issues and just two change orders (which can run up costs) throughout the process.” When asked how he thought participants felt about their experience, Roberts said his sense was that they were “overwhelmingly happy.”
The HRP has a total of $809,327 in construction funds available of which about 65% or $532,880 will go toward six Becket homes and $276,447 will go to five Dalton homes. A total of $670,771 has been paid out thus far with the remaining balance of $138,556 expected to be disbursed in the coming months as the construction projects are finished. The previously noted average of $88,813 for the six Becket rehabs is 61% greater than the Dalton average of $55,289. Why so much higher? Roberts attributes Becket’s heftier price tag to its reliance on individual wells and septic systems for homeowner water and sewer needs. As an example he cited one home in need of both for which the total estimate came in at $97,000. The HRP cap per household is $70,000. Roberts explained that when projected costs exceed the cap, a waiver is applied for and usually granted; however, that means the dollars can’t cover as many households as anticipated. Adding that dynamic to higher material and contractor costs overall unfortunately meant that of the original fourteen households approved for rehabilitation, funds could cover only eleven.
Roberts and Town Administrator Kathe Warden will be meeting soon to discuss another possible CDBG application submission in 2026 for potential approval and funding in FY 2027. If that moves forward, the three homeowners who were not able to be part of the current grant will be at the top of the list for the next one. Roberts said BRPC is also looking at diversifying some of its funding sources to address a single project such as roofs, which could help relieve some of the expense pressure on the HRP.
Should communities expect CDBGs to be available in the future? A CDBG is a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development given as a block grant to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which then distributes funds throughout the state through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Given current federal funding uncertainty, it’s questionable; yet Roberts and Warden say they will press forward with a new grant application, hoping to fund another program in 2027.
An additional note: The identities of HRP participants are confidential; however, we asked, and Brett Roberts agreed, to reach out to HRP homeowners to see if they would be willing to talk about their experience with the Beat and its readers. We hope to hear from some of them and share their stories in a future edition.
