Michael Moriarty, representing 1 Holyoke, presented three interconnected applications to the Holyoke City CPA committee seeking preservation and housing funds: completion and siting of a UMass design‑build tiny house as an affordable rental, acquisition and redevelopment of a Pine Street receivership parcel into a homeownership development that would include a tiny house, and funding for a city‑specific tiny‑house planning and policy study.

Moriarty described an ongoing partnership with the University of Massachusetts design‑build program that has delivered two tiny houses to Holyoke in prior years; a third house (the “eighth sister” project) has exterior work and interior framing completed and is slated to be sited on an East White Street lot owned by 1 Holyoke. He said the East White lot has roughly 53 feet of frontage and is about 7,000 square feet; the project already holds a building permit, helical piers are installed, and the students completed much of the exterior work. Moriarty said the current siting and finishing budget for that project is about $117,000; the UMass team is supported by a $40,000 contribution and an additional anonymous donor for part of the prior house costs.

For the East White Street unit, Moriarty said 1 Holyoke intends to hold the house as long‑term rental and to place an affordability restriction administered by the city’s Office of Community Development. He described the agency’s usual policy of setting rents at about 10% below HUD fair market rent for unsubsidized tenants and said rental restrictions typically run 10–15 years with target household incomes at or below 60 percent of area median income (AMI). He also said the unit would likely be a one‑bedroom of roughly 600 square feet and that 1 Holyoke would require a 12‑month lease term to avoid short‑term rentals.

The second application concerns a Pine Street parcel in receivership. Moriarty said Riverside Development Corporation holds the parcel in receivership and that a pending motion in Springfield Housing Court would transfer title to 1 Holyoke for roughly $30,000 (the sale price would be applied to outstanding taxes and liens). He said the city previously spent about $180,000 to demolish a destroyed structure on the lot; the city has agreed to forgive that demolition cost if 1 Holyoke’s project includes an affordability restriction approved by the housing court. Moriarty described plans for a modular single‑family house (about 1,500–1,800 square feet) plus a UMass tiny house on the site, intended for affordable homeownership and to follow 1 Holyoke’s established two‑family/wealth‑building model. He said the organization expects to seek ARPA, HOME or other subsidized funds to match CPA dollars for this longer timeline project.

The third request is for $40,000 to produce a tiny‑house planning and policy blueprint tailored to Holyoke. Moriarty said the study would draw on the CPA guidebook (page 26 was cited), state changes from the Affordable Homes Act that expanded accessory dwelling unit (ADU) allowances (including up to 900 square feet matter‑of‑right ADUs), and local zoning and planning needs. He suggested hiring experienced state partners — for example, entities such as the Donahue Institute or the Massachusetts Housing Partnership — plus 1 Holyoke’s community engagement staff to run public outreach and charrettes so the blueprint reflects local needs and helps operationalize new state rules.

Committee members asked detailed budget and process questions. Mary and others probed contingency line items (hard‑cost and soft‑cost contingencies) and the developer fee line; Moriarty explained typical contingency norms (around 10%), said some work (helical piers, permit work) is already complete, and clarified that CPA funds, if awarded, would be used for hard construction costs rather than cover organizational developer profit. Mary asked about signage and said recipients must provide CPA attribution; Moriarty agreed. Pauline asked for conceptual context on tiny houses; Moriarty described tiny houses as a growing, sometimes controversial, housing approach that can be efficient and allow net‑zero design on a small footprint. Lauren Niles and others asked how the policy study would interact with the city’s comprehensive plan and ADU ordinance work; Moriarty said the study would be a focused, actionable guide intended to complement the broader planning process.

Moriarty said the UMass relationship is intended for the long term: the design‑build program provides engineering, student labor and design testing for net‑zero outcomes and 1 Holyoke serves as the local steward that will site, permit and manage the resulting units. He said two previously delivered tiny houses are already in service on Dwight Street.

Ending: The CPA committee did not take funding votes during the presentation. Members were instructed to prescore applications ahead of the committee’s next meeting (noted by staff as a Feb. 12 scoring deadline) and to return with questions or requests for additional documentation. Moriarty said he would email links and materials to the committee and that 1 Holyoke would work with city offices to finalize affordability restrictions and procurement details if CPA funding is offered.