We are thrilled to announce that Louison House will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony and fundraiser on September 11th, 2025, from 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm. This event will take place at four locations: our new youth housing location (111 Bracewell Avenue in North Adams), our Flood House (149 Church Street in North Adams), Adams Terry’s House/TH (395 Old Columbia Street in Adams), and a location to be announced for our Duck race/Stream of Life fundraiser.
The upcoming ceremony represents the culmination of many long months of hard work. It is integral to Louison House’s mission that we provide not only emergency sheltering, but longer-term support systems.
The criteria for admission to this housing necessitates that Bracewell’s residents are chronically homeless youth. All of the incoming residents are therefore in between the ages of 18 and 24, and have been experiencing homelessness for at least a year continuously, or 4+ instances in the over the course of the past 3 years.
Our friends and neighbors deserve support. The Bracewell Housing Project allows us to give local youth experiencing chronic homelessness a fresh start and a new home!
We are in the process of moving the youth into the new building, but we need your help. We are seeking donations. Help make Bracewell House a home!
Additionally, we’d like to extend a special thank you to our partners and contributors to this project, without whom, we would’ve been unable to complete this journey. We give a special thanks and recognition to:
- Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) provided capital funds through a Homeless Youth Services contract with Community Action Pioneer Valley.
- The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) awarded Bracewell House Supportive Housing Development with ARPA 1- SH funds.
- Massachusetts Alliance for Supportive Housing (MASH) funds came through a partnership between the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA), United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB), and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH).
- The City of North Adams, MA for providing a parking lots for the building and much support for the project.
We’ve owned the building since 2017 when the North Adams Housing Authorities program, Housing Opportunities, transferred it to Louison House/Louison Properties. We closed it for use in 2020 as it was no longer a habitable space. In 2022, an opportunity arose through EOHHS for youth housing capital funds. For 2 years much of the planning, securing of funds and prepping the building for final construction was done (gutting the building and clearing it of lead and asbestos, and an environmental study). By April 2024 we had closed on MASH funding and EOHHS ARPA funds and construction began. During the week of July 21, 2025, construction was mostly completed and a temporary Certificate of Occupancy and Health Department Certificates of compliance; we started moving residents in immediately. The first two move-ins were Doug and Damien, with others soon to follow in the next two weeks.
We are truly indebted to our Partners: Amanda Zepka and Soulierre-Zepka Construction, Inc. (General Contractor); Mike Cucchiaro/Piedmont Collamer (Development consultant); Elton Ogden/Ogden Consulting LLC (Owner’s Representative); Jeff Noble and Hill Engineers Architects Planners; Bruce Hake and Hake Westall Architectural; Steve Narey and Donovan; O’Connor & Dodig LLC; Joy 2 Design (formerly Narrowgate)/state contracted architects. With their help, Bracewell House has been completely revitalized, and the building itself has come to symbolize the importance of the stability it will provide for our youth.
Though much progress has been made, we can always use your help. We hope you’ll join us on September 11th to celebrate this milestone, and a huge thank you goes out to all who have aided in this process!