A handful of Hampshire County communities are in line for nearly $5 million in state grants to help offset the cost of a variety of projects from development of affordable housing to neighborhood infrastructure improvements.

The money is part of $3.9 million awarded through the Community Development Block Grant program last week by the Healey-Driscoll administration.

“The CDBG Program is designed to help small cities and towns meet a broad range of community development needs, such as housing, community, and economic development projects that assist low- and moderate-income residents or revitalize areas of blight,” the governor’s office said in a statement announcing the grants.

Amherst, Easthampton, South Hadley and Huntington received portions of the funding for various projects.

In Easthampton, $670,715 has been awarded for the design of the Town Lodging House. The old house on Oliver Street is set to be converted into 30 affordable housing units by Valley Community Development Corporation. Developers say the development is currently “at a standstill” due to vacancies in the Easthampton Planning Department that need to be filled before work can continue.

Valley CDC has already completed an archaeological survey of the property to determine if there are any existing structures, burial plots, or other possible findings buried beneath the soil that would limit construction. The results yielded no findings that would prevent development.

Moving forward, Valley CDC plans to conduct community outreach surrounding the Lodging House project to address some of the concerns and resistance community members have raised about the development.

In Amherst, the town is set to receive $950,000, with 60% of the money going toward projects, 20% supporting social service agencies and about 15% paying for grant administration.

The plan submitted by Amherst officials included $543,000 for North Pleasant Street infrastructure improvements. This includes building the next part of the multiuse path to serve pedestrians and bicycles for a quarter-mile stretch on the west side of the road north of the University of Massachusetts campus, extending from Hobart Lane to Fisher Street.

For non-social services projects, $15,000 will be dedicated to a microenterprise assistance program to help low- and moderate-income resident business owners.

The remaining $185,000 will be divided among various social service providers, with money targeted for the Amherst Mobile Market, the food pantry at the Amherst Survival Center, youth services provided by Big Brothers Big Sisters, homelessness prevention by Family Outreach of Amherst and language classes offered by the Center for New Americans.

Other communities to receive CDBG money from the state include:

■ A group of communities that includes Chesterfield, Cummington Goshen, Peru, Plainfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthingon will get $1.33 million for a joint application. The money will be used to rehabilitate 11 housing units and provide social services such as a food pantry and to help elders remain self-sufficient.

■South Hadley is receiving $950,000 to support the Center Street Neighborhood infrastructure improvement project.

■ Other awards are going to Huntington, which will receive $950,000 to support the Stanton Avenue infrastructure improvement project, and a joint award of $1.37 million to the towns of Chester, Middlefield, Huntington and Russell for phase three infrastructure improvements on Prospect Street, to rehabilitate four housing units and to provide a host of social services in those communities.