Following a story MHProNews posted Feb. 28, 2014 about the closing of Spruces Mobile Home Park in Williamstown, Massachusetts due to persistent flooding, a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant that triggered the closing will help provide the building of replacement housing with eight of the 14 households tagged for families earning less than 30 percent of the area median income. With only 66 of the original 225 manufactured homes habitable at Spruces due to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, the $6.1 million FEMA money will compensate residents and owner Morgan Management, as well as return the flood-prone land to its natural state, according to iberkshires.com.
Williams College is donating the land for the new development, Highland Woods, and the grant agreement with Morgan, FEMA, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, which oversees manufactured housing communities (MHCs), are collaborating with Berkshire Housing Development Corporation on the project. Additional support is coming from Higher Ground, Williamstown Elderly Housing and Boston’s Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development. The date for scheduled completion of Highland Woods coincides with Spruces closing on Feb. 29, 2014. ##
