Construction begins on Springfield housing for chronically-homeless and vulnerable residents (2025)

SPRINGFIELD — A total of 36 of the city’s most vulnerable residents will soon be handed a key to their own apartment with their own kitchen, bathroom and a myriad of supportive services that will keep them stable, housed and able to move forward.

Officials for Clinical and Support Options Inc. officially broke ground on the approximately $20 million project at 775 Worthington St. Wednesday, while surrounded by multiple supporters and partners who provided financing and other assistance to make the project possible.

“As we break ground today we are also breaking cycles. We are breaking cycles of instability and of isolation,” said Karin Jeffers, president and chief executive officer of Clinical Support Options. “Together we are building something stronger, a community that says you belong here.”

Construction on the building, located at the site of the former 5th Alarm strip club that closed permanently during the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to take a little more than a year. In 15 months, Jeffers said she hopes people who have not slept in their beds for months and even years to move into their own studio apartments.

The financing for the project is complicated and was cobbled together from many sources. A total of 60%, or some $11.5 million, comes from the federal government including American Rescue Plan funds and Low Income Housing Tax Credits. There are also Massachusetts tax credits and other state money, city funds and three investment partners, Jeffers said.

Despite chaotic federal cuts that are being announced daily under President Donald Trump’s administration, Jeffers said she has been assured the funding for this project is safe.

“There are few issues urban life that are more complicated than housing. It’s an issue of supply, it’s an issue of demand, it’s an issue of land use, zoning, permitting, financing and income elasticity,” U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said. “It’s really hard to do housing.”

Neal said he is particularly proud the Ways and Means Committee, where he serves as ranking member, initiated much of the funding. He and fellow members of Congress fought a war to protect the housing tax credits from extinction over the past few months.

“It is truly remarkable what is taking place in the city of Springfield as it relates to housing. Today marks another milestone as we continue to make significant investments to expand our region’s housing stock — an endeavor that has been a great partnership at all levels of government,” Neal said.

“No one should be abandoned,” he said. “Improving and expanding affordable housing remains a top priority throughout the nation, and thanks to organizations like CSO, we are making great strides in addressing our housing needs.”

Springfield has also been a big supporter and its Housing and Economic Development departments worked with Clinical Support Options to make the project happen, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said.

“This is much better than the 5th Alarm,” Sarno joked. Clinical Support Options purchased the building for $336,345 from BSC Realty in 2021 and has since razed the closed club.

Making sure Springfield’s most vulnerable residents have stable housing and are off the streets makes the entire city a better place, Sarno said.

“It gives these individuals an opportunity for a better life and if they are able to get a better life, they are able to take care of themselves, maybe go back and take care of their families and maybe even give back to community and maybe be a mentor and help out other individuals,” he said.

Clinical Support Options, which operates the Friends of the Homeless shelter that will be next to the new apartment building, offers a wide range of services for behavioral health and addiction treatment, Jeffers said.

“We are serving the most vulnerable of our population and we see how much trauma, how much addiction, how much mental health challenges people have in addition to not having a home,” Jeffers said. “If they can’t really have someone wrap around them to try to stabilize that and support that it is really hard to get out of homelessness.”

Studies and the agency’s own experience shows people with a stable and safe place to live are far more likely to respond to services because homeless people simply are focusing on a daily struggle of surviving, she said.

Supportive housing means the residents will have constant access to a wide range of help including physical and mental health, financial literacy and whatever else they need. Residents can also get three meals a day at the Friends of the Homeless shelter, said Peter Graham, of Valley Housing Consultants which is assisting Clinical Support Options with the project.

The Springfield Housing Authority will help subsidize rent for the apartments. The agency also bills Medicaid for health services it provides, he said.

Residents will be tenants for as long as they want. While some will choose to remain in their apartments for their lives, others may move on as they improve their lives, Graham said.

“What makes me proud is it is my ward and it is welcome and we need more of complexes like this,” said City Councilor Maria Perez, who also works as a housing advocate with the New North Citizens Council. “To the team that made this happen, thank you, thank you, thank you.”