HOLYOKE – OneHolyoke CDC received a donation of UMass Amherst’s “HyggeHaus” on July 29 that will become the home of a low-to-moderate-income Holyoke resident.

The “HyggeHaus” is a newly constructed, 350-square-foot, net zero modular house constructed by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Building Construction and Technology Department that was started by a group of students and instructors in 2020 and was finally completed in June due to COVID-19 delays the last two years. It was delivered to Middle Street in Holyoke and will sit in a lot until November with permission of the city while OneHolyoke CDC identifies a location and resident for the home.

The word “Hygge” means “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” The house features a living room space, kitchen space, a bathroom and a bedroom.

OneHolyoke CDC is the only certified Community Development Corporation based in the city. Founded in 1971, OneHolyoke CDC has created over 160 new homes in the Flats, Churchill and South Holyoke neighborhoods, rehabilitated hundreds of apartments and provided thousands of home improvement grants to homeowners through the Neighborhood Improvement Program.

OneHolyoke CDC Executive Director Mike Moriarty said they were contacted by the Building Construction Technologies program at UMass wanting adding something to Holyoke’s affordable housing portfolio. They were looking for an affordable housing nonprofit and connected with OneHolyoke CDC.

According to Moriarty, OneHolyoke CDC will now go through a selection process to identify a low-to-moderate-income resident in Holyoke for the new home. They will also identify the best location to move the house.

“We’re actually hoping we can site it along with a single-family home and sell two structures as a duplex. There’s a lot of reasons why that really helps with the wealth building or rehab for affordable home buyers,” Moriarty said. “If that can’t happen, we are judiciously selecting one of the smaller lots that we own in the city because we really don’t want to tie up an entire buildable lot for 350-square-foot housing.”

He added that they want the home to be owned by an affordable homeowner and that they will rent the property if it ends up being the most sensible outcome even though it is not their first choice.

Moriarty said he hopes the donation and its display on the corner of Main and Middle Streets inform residents about the three main points of the project. The first is to highlight an example of net zero housing, something the students working on the project were focused on creating. The second is about showing the potential uses of accessory dwellings in Holyoke.

“The idea is in a built environment like Holyoke being able to use smaller structures where there is space for it and make zoning rules and planning goals that can help accommodate something like this because the greatest need in Western Massachusetts right now is additional units of housing of all kinds,” Moriarty said.

He added the third thing people can take from projects like this is that helping find affordable housing and giving them to people who would benefit from the living situation is “a really good thing to do” and he hopes this may inspire the next gift.