A “historic” affordable housing bill supported by Senator Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford) is on its way to the governor for final consideration, and its passage could make an impact on a project right here in Dartmouth.

With this legislation, dubbed the Affordable Homes Act, over $5 billion in state bond obligations would be authorized for housing development and improvements across the state, including $500,000 for the Partners in Housing Mendes-Monteiro Housing project on Anderson Way.

The project, first announced in 2018, is a 10-unit affordable housing development for seniors who receive services from the Department of Mental Health and the town’s first affordable housing project in about a decade, according to Connie Desbiens, director of Partners in Housing.

When the project was put up for a bid in April, the lowest bid came back a half million dollars over what the Partners anticipated spending for construction. However, the Dartmouth Housing Authority has worked with the organization over the last couple weeks to loan the money to be paid back over a 30-year period.

But the Housing Authority may see that money a lot sooner than anticipated if the Affordable Homes Act is passed.

Since first hearing of the bill, Desbiens said it was “always the ultimate intention” to use the funds to pay back the Housing Authority. However, the Partners in Housing have not yet met since the bill was passed by the state legislature Thursday, Aug. 1.

She added she is “so incredibly excited and grateful” for the funds — pending the governor's approval. 

“I'm just glad that we are finally going to be able to move forward with groundbreaking and starting of construction in the near future,” Desbiens said. “We just have a few more documents before the closing and then once we close, we get to start construction.”