About HRA

The Franklin County Regional Housing Authority (HRA) serves the housing and community development needs of the Franklin County and North Quabbin regions in northwestern Massachusetts.

The State’s first regional public housing authority (History), and the Commonwealth’s sole regional redevelopment authority, the HRA works with municipalities and residents of the State's most rural region to successfully access and deliver a wide array of affordable housing and community development resources.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority (HRA) to enhance the quality of life for the residents and communities of rural Franklin County and the North Quabbin region by accessing and delivering resources to address their housing, community development, municipal infrastructure, public facilities, economic, and social service needs.  Further, HRA strives to promote environmental awareness and to be respectful of the unique characteristics of our rural region.

Undertaken at no cost to our communities, HRA staff work with towns to prioritize their needs, identify potential resources, plan projects, prepare proposals for funding, secure funds, and oversee the successful implementation of these initiatives. HRA staff often work several years with communities to develop a competitive project.

Job Opportunities

Leased Housing Administrative Assistant

Board of Commissioners

Officers
• Chair: Jonathan Tuttle, Shutesbury (Appointed: 2/20/87)
• Vice Chair: Jo-Anne Sherburne, Colrain (Appointed: 9/2/86)
• Treasurer: Frank Cackowski, S. Deerfield (Appointed: 10/25/1982)

Commissioners
• Denise DiPaolo, Turners Falls (Appointed: 10/10/2001)
• Sharon Tracy, New Salem (Appointed: 9/10/2003)
• Leo Parent, Erving (Appointed: 9/19/2003)
• Linda Hoer, Leverett (Appointed: 10/30/2003)
• Leslie McDonough, Buckland (Appointed: 5/27/2008)
• Bruce Parkin, Shutesbury (Appointed: 8/14/2008)

History

In the late 1960s, aware that rural Franklin County was not accessing its fair share of state and federal housing and community development funds, the Franklin County Commissioners sought a long-term regional solution.The County Commission envisioned creating a financially independent regional entity that could develop and sustain the professional capacity and expertise to be a housing and community development resource for each of the region’s 26 small towns and their residents.

Over the past three decades, the HRA has more than fulfilled the County Commissioners original vision and investment. Funded that first year by the County with a loan of $18,375, the HRA not only repaid that loan, but has to-date generated more than a quarter-billion dollars in housing and community development activities for Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.