Origins
Construct, Inc. is a testimony to the power of concerned and motivated individuals and a caring community. Its stated mission is to provide comprehensive housing, support and educational services to persons of low-to-moderate income or who are homeless in the southern Berkshire region.It was founded in the late 1960’s by an ecumenical group of clergy and lay persons who met in the basement of St. James Episcopal Church in Great Barrington, Massachusett following the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and during President Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” This study group met to examine the social issues then undermining the communities of south Berkshire County. Three critical issues were identified, and a task team to address each issue was formed. One task team addressed the urgent need for affordable housing in a prosperous region, but where affordable housing was beyond the reach of many local residents and workers, especially those who were minorities.

Initial Years
By 1970, this affordable housing task team organized itself under the name of Construct, Inc., applied for and received 501(c)3 status as a nonprofit organization. In the early years, Construct focused on buying properties to renovate or build new to sell, at no profit, to first time homeowners or to rent to persons of low income. These properties were located on Castle Hill in Great Barrington, and several on Alum Rd., in Sheffield. Shortly thereafter, Construct entered into a partnership with the Berkshire Housing Development Corporation for the development of a fifteen-acre parcel. Later known as Christian Hill Commons, it became a successful, affordable housing complex in Great Barrington.

New Directions
In the late 70’s, buying, renovating and selling affordable first-time homes was no longer feasible in South County. So Construct concentrated efforts on the administration of public rent subsidy programs, enlisting funding support from state and federal agencies. Under contract with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Community Development, Construct administered the state’s 707 Rent Voucher program and Section 8 for the south Berkshire region. For the next fifteen years, Construct’s name became synonymous with housing help.

Project Home: A Transitional Housing Services Program
In the late 80’s when homelessness became a national concern, south County was no exception. Construct, sensitive to the community’s housing needs, turned again to address this critical issue. It held its first Annual Walk For the Homeless to raise awareness of this community concern and raise funds to help families in a housing crisis.In June 1990, Construct turned its public rental assistance programs over to the countywide organization, Berkshire Housing Development Corporation. Then, with the help of three Vista volunteers, two Green Thumb employees, and a part time director, the Board of Construct developed its comprehensive transitional housing services program: Project Home. This popular program provides limited financial housing assistance, case management, life skills and adult educational activities needed to stabilize a homeless or at risk household in permanent, affordable housing.

More Than Services: Shelter
In the mid-90’s, Construct acquired two properties to renovate, own or manage on Pleasant and Rossiter Streets in Great Barrington where homeless families could reside up to 12 months while addressing the underlying factors that contribute to homelessness. In January 1999, Construct won a grant from HUD to develop a small transitional shelter for single young adults. It purchased a big, beautifully renovated building on Mahaiwe St. formerly used as a synagogue for Hevreh of South Berkshire that was a perfect fit for both shelter and offices under one roof, with staff readily available to assist residents in achieving their economic and housing goals. A woman’s house was added on in 2004.

Developing Affordable Housing
By 2000, a shortage of affordable housing stock was felt throughout Berkshire County, but most acutely in south Berkshire where rents were high and the wages low. This lack exacerbated homelessness and contributed to a demographic drift, as more and more families were being priced out of housing, drifting north to other parts of Berkshire County or over state lines to find affordable rents. Concerned that this drift would threaten the economic and social vibrancy of South County, Construct, again, took action, this time with a resolution to preserve and/or increase the affordable housing stock in south Berkshire County.To facilitate development projects, Construct established the Affordable Housing Stabilization Fund, a revolving loan fund. Monies from this fund are loaned to the development project for pre-development costs, and restored to the fund once grants and other funding resources for the project are awarded.Construct’s first two projects were preservation projects. A nine-unit building on East Street in Great Barrington, up for sale for the first time in 20 years, was purchased and renovated without displacing low-income tenants in 2001.  Two duplexes were purchased and renovated in Lee in 2003 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to preserve four family units of subsidized housing that might otherwise have gone into the private rental market.

Pine Woods: A Big Step Forward
By far the most ambitious of Construct’s affordable housing development projects has been the acquisition of an 18-acre parcel along Route 102, west of the town of Stockbridge, in collaboration with the Town of Stockbridge, the Stockbridge Land Trust and the Stockbridge Housing Authority. The new 30-unit mixed-income project is scheduled for completion by February 2006. Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) has honored the Pine Woods project as one of the top five, new, affordable housing undertakings in Massachusetts.