The City of Pittsfield’s At-Home in Pittsfield Program has officially launched and is now accepting applications from interested homeowners in the city.

At-Home in Pittsfield, an exterior renovation loan program, enables eligible homeowners to renovate the outside of their homes through a combination of funding from local lenders and the City of Pittsfield. The program is designed to assist residents who do not have access to traditional financing.

Eligible repairs that can be funded through the program include roofing replacement; window and door replacement; porch repairs or replacement; chimney repairs; and siding replacement.

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Properties must be owner-occupied and may be single-family homes or owner-occupied multi-family structures with up to two housing units. Applicants must have owned their home for at least two years prior to Jan. 21, 2021.

The city is investing $500,000 towards the program, which will be managed by the Department of Community Development rehabilitation staff.  Participating local lenders include Berkshire Bank, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Lee Bank, and Pittsfield Co-op Bank.

Homeowners that do not have a relationship with one of the participating lenders will be able to access At-Home in Pittsfield funds directly from the city.

At the start of this year, the city assembled a team of qualified contractors who will work specifically on At-Home-related renovation projects to ensure a streamlined process.

Mayor Linda Tyer, who first announced the program in 2019, said At-Home in Pittsfield is a program that will serve as a catalyst for long-term, sustainable change in the city.

“At-Home in Pittsfield has the power to transform our community – house by house, block by block. We know that many in our city would like to embark on exterior renovations and other improvements, however, the unfortunate reality is that some lack the necessary financial resources,” the mayor said.

“This program actively works to remove those barriers, reduce the instances of deferred maintenance and widen the pathway of access. I am grateful to our lending partners for their belief, support and investment in a program that will reap benefits for all of us in the City of Pittsfield.”

The application and program details, which are also available in Spanish, can be accessed via the city’s website, here. For questions or additional information, please contact the Department of Community Development at 499-9368.

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Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

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