Harborlight Homes awarded state funding for construction of Depot Lane

Ipswich, MA Harborlight Homes, a nonprofit community development corporation, has been awarded Massachusetts state funding to begin construction of Depot Lane, a new development that will bring 52 much-needed affordable homes to individuals and families in the area. The award was made possible in part through governor Maura Healey’s Affordable Homes Act, which significantly increased state support for housing production.

The project has been supported by, and developed in close collaboration with, the town and the Ipswich Housing Partnership. Depot Lane is the result of a partnership between Harborlight Homes and the Ipswich Housing Partnership, whose members worked together to identify and evaluate potential housing sites in Ipswich, efforts that ultimately led to the current project.

Secretary Juana Matias of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities recently visited the site, which currently holds a building, formerly owned by EBSCO, that will be razed to make way for the new housing. In the meantime, the existing building is being used by other nonprofits, including as a food distribution site for Three Sisters Farm, which provides fresh produce to families in need. Harborlight hopes to create a permanent commercial location for Three Sisters Farm within the new building.

, forming a unique partnership that addresses both housing and food insecurity.