New Housing Development For Homeless In Worcester Gets State Aid

WORCESTER, MA — A South Middlesex Opportunity Council plan to build apartments for chronically homeless residents got a funding boost Wednesday through a state grant program.

SMOC is planning to build 20 studio apartments at its Martin Luther King Jr. Opportunity Center building near the corner of Chandler Street and Park Avenue. The project joins a constellation of small developments across Worcester aimed at moving people off the streets into permanent housing.

The SMOC project was one of 12 projects across the state that will share in about $60 million in Permanent Supportive Housing Grants. The SMOC project will also include supportive care for issues like addiction and mental health through Lexington-based Eliot Community Human Services. The project will also receive funding from Worcester through the city's federal stimulus allotment, and $3 million from the Department of Housing and Community Development, including the grant.

There are two other major housing projects in the works in Worcester aimed at getting homeless people into permanent housing.

In January, the Worcester Planing Board signed off on renovation plans for the Quality Inn along Oriol Drive by the nonprofit Worcester Community Housing Resources. The building will have 90 units for extremely low-income people: 57 one-bedrooms and 33 studios. Tenants will pay a maximum of 30 percent of their income in rent, and supportive services through Eliot will be available on-site.

Worcester recently closed applications for a 24-unit development along Lewis Street for chronically homeless and low-income people. That project broke ground in August.

There are also pending plans to build a 21-unit tiny home village off Stafford Street; and an 18-unit development along Winfield Street. It's unclear when construction on those projects might begin.