Greater Newburyport YWCA to facilitate the construction of the Hillside YWCA building

On October 2nd, the crew at Hillside welcomed a whole slew of important people down to our construction site, and for a fascinating reason! Newburyport was one of three communities that would be benefiting from the $3.2 million in awards given by the Baker-Polito Administration, $600,000 of which was given to the Greater Newburyport YWCA to facilitate the construction of the Hillside YWCA building as part of deep affordability in the 10 SRO (single room occupancy) units that will comprise this lodging house.. This is a HUGE win for the YWCA and Hillside benefits by providing the Newburyport area with these ten affordable housing units. The residents of the lodging house will fully participate in the Hillside community and be able to use all of its unique resources. 

“Congratulations to the YWCA of Greater Newburyport and David Hall for the Hillside Center for receiving a Community Scale Housing Award from the Department of Housing and Community Development. I appreciate the City of Newburyport’s contribution to creating more affordable housing as a part of this project as well.”  
-Senator Kathleen O'Connor Ives

"The YWCA has long been a leader in providing clean, safe, and efficient housing throughout Newburyport and the region.  Their partnership with Hillside Center for Sustainable Living will be yet another opportunity to provide ten affordable units that will not only provide a roof over residents’ heads, but will provide a unique living experience as residents enjoy all of the amenities of the hillside community,”
-Newburyport Mayor Donna D. Holaday

The YWCA at Hillside is composed of 10 single-room units. Two units will be available to those interested earning less than 50% AMI (Area Median Income) and the rest for those earning less than 30% AMI. The coolest part about this component of the Hillside Community is that, along with being affordable, this housing will abide by the same sustainable, energy-efficient standards as the rest of our housing!

Photo voltaic Diagram

Another super neat element that is totally unique to out YWCA housing units is our intended use of solar thermal energy rather than the more commonly practiced use of PV (photo voltaic) panels. Photo voltaic panels work by capturing the sun's light and converting it directly into electricity. This method of energy use can be seen on all of our housing units along with our Solar Canopies that double as parking for residents! However, solar thermal energy is a technology that captures heat energy from the sun and uses it for heating and / or electricity; in our case we will be using solar thermal energy as our method of water heating for the Affordable Housing units.