Present: Susan Worgaftik, Nancy Hazard, Lexi Turner, Pamela Goodwin, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Mike Mullin, Jen Hale, Edie Heinemann, Brace Rennels, Jack Redman, Kat Miller, Carol Letson

DISCUSSIONS:

Proposed Rental Registry Ordinance — Susan Worgaftik has learned that the Rental Housing Registration and Inspection ordinance is still with the City’s lawyer. We expect it will be coming before the Appointments and Ordinance Committee of the City Council in July where it is expected to pass and move on to the July City Council meeting. She will send out a reminder email for folks to send in letters or speak at these meetings in support of the ordinance. The reminder will have talking points attached.

Organizational Planning — Lexi Turner reported that coming out of the last meeting Nikki, Susan, Lexi and Mike were charged with thinking about next steps for a process to build a Housing Greenfield organization model that can remain active and resilient and not be overly reliant on one or two individuals.  The group met on June 5th to begin this planning.

They discussed the idea that came out of the last Housing Greenfield meeting discussion on May 11 of doing a survey of members, that would build off of the questions in the document that was shared and discussed.

They agreed that a survey will be useful but came around to the idea that there are some short term steps that can be taken first to organize the work we are doing now and that these may make sense before doing a survey.

Some specific ideas that emerged from our discussion are:

• Further defining the Coordinating Committee- its role (e.g, cultivator, facilitator, and steward), workload (e.g., charged with specific tasks such as agenda planning, meeting facilitation; note taking; membership; group communication; etc.) and composition (e.g., how many, how long).

• Establishing a point person on the Coordinating Committee (or a coordinating committee email address) to which suggested agenda items from the membership can be shared and planned for;

• Examine the meetings that Susan currently attends and the roles (“hats”) she plays and designate new points of accountability among the Housing Greenfield active volunteer network to distribute the workload and still keep the group aware and involved on important issues and opportunities;

• Redrafting Housing Greenfield’s mission statement to reflect the broader scope of its current work and advocacy e.g., work in the areas of homelessness, homeownership, and information sharing on city, state, and federal barriers and opportunities affecting affordable housing and homelessness in Greenfield.

The next steps are:
Revising the Housing Greenfield mission statement
Developing the survey and possibly distributing it and collating the result
Possibly creating subgroups of discussions of ideas that come up in the survey

The survey should include what people value about Housing Greenfield. Discussion in this June 8 regular meeting included:

• Visiting our relationship with the warming center and how we want to continue our relations with our unhoused neighbors;
• Ask Jack Redman and Amy Cahillane if there are specific ways that Housing Greenfield can be helpful in their work;
• Talk with direct service providers about ways we might be helpful to them;
• Are there additions or changes that we need to make to our website?

The organizational committee will continue meeting and will come back with new questions and eventually some ideas for next steps. The committee is planning to bring some ideas on the content of the mission statement to the potluck dinner on July 13th. There will not be a discussion or “meeting” but some ideas that folks can respond to.

Changes in HUD’S Anti-discrimination policies — Jack Redman reported that in addition to the changes around immigrants that were discussed at the May meeting, HUD has recently put forward possible rules that would take away rights to housing based upon gender identification and sexual orientation. These new rules would make it difficult to house people in shelters if the shelter wanted to house people according to their identities as opposed to the sexuality that they had at birth. The rules would come up against Massachusetts’ anti-discrimination rules, but shelters that have some federal funding would be required to follow federal rules.

We voted to send comments rejecting these rules to HUD via the HUD comment system. As with the last set of rule changes, it is important that we not send comments that are all the same because HUD’s system will reject them and treat them as one comment. Rather, the comments should be individualized responses to the same issues. HUD is required to read and, if requested, to respond to all the letters they receive. The hope is that this will slow the process enough for a new Congress to write laws that override these present policy change initiatives.

For more information on the policy changes and how to submit comments to HUD go to Western MA Network info.

Greenfield Tenants’ Union — Kat Miller announced that the Greenfield Tenants’ Union(GTU) is now about a month old. It was built with some assistance from the Easthampton Tenants’ Union. GTU had its first official meeting on June 6th. 12 people attended. Most lived in owner-occupied houses. At this point, the GTU is trying to get an understanding of how many rental units there are in Greenfield and who owns them. They are also trying to understand how market rate rents are established. Right now, there are several tenants’ unions in the Connecticut River Valley, and more are starting. There is a possibility that there will be a conference of Western Massachusetts tenants’ unions this fall.

The rent stabilization/rent control referendum seems to be heading to the fall election. Signatures are being collected and are due on June 11th. For more information on what is happening, contact Dionn Casanova at dionn@springfieldnooneleaves.org or 413-230-9051.

Parking and Housing — Mike Mullins is trying to understand how changes in zoning regarding parking requirements might provide the possibility for more housing being built. Right now, duplex housing can be built on 1/10th of an acre and in most parts of Greenfield (not in the Central Commercial District) 1 parking space is required for each unit. That means that approximately 10% of the 1/10th of an acre must be used for parking.

When extrapolated out to some of the larger developments in town, this concept creates parking lots that may be too large for what is needed for the people living in the building.

Mike is looking into using those parking minimums in the zoning regulations and making them the maximum parking option for those sites. That would allow the rethinking of the use of these spaces for additional housing. Present buildings and parking would be grandfathered in. If, however, there were a change of use for this land, then the parking maximum changes could be enforced as part of new plans. Other cities have done this. These kinds of changes would have to go through the Economic Development Committee of the City Council and the Planning Board. Mike is still thinking this through and doing research. If you are interested in working with Mike on this project, please contact him at mullin.michael.andrew@gmail.com

Accessible Housing — Susan Worgaftik told us that when we sent out the announcement for this meeting, Joannah Whitney wrote back that, considering the difficulties that she has had in finding an accessible apartment, it might make sense to have a discussion of accessibility issues and concerns at our next Housing Greenfield meeting. The Coordinating Group thought about this and suggested that perhaps it would make more sense to have an open discussion where developers were invited to discuss these issues. We voted to ask Joannah if she would be interested in having such a public meeting. If so, we would ask if there were a couple of people who would be willing to work with her to make it happen.

Summer Get Together  We will hold our second annual potluck get together on Monday, July 13th Green River Park, 22 Petty Plain Rd, Greenfield, MA 01301 from 5-7 pm. (This is not the swimming area, this is where the dog park and children’s play area are in the southern part of town.) We will have use of the pavilion there which has several picnic tables (we will check how many) and the grill. We are going to send more information closer to the date so you can plan. Please feel free to bring children and significant others. This is a non-meeting meeting…just food, good talk and laughter.

Next meeting: Monday, August 10th 6:30 pm via zoom

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Nancy Hazard, Amy Cahillane, Lexi Turner, Pamela Goodwin, Bob Williford, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Mary McClintock, Nikki Garrett, Mike Penn-Strah, Alvin Nguyen, Joannah Whitney, Mike Mullin

DISCUSSIONS:

Massachusetts Fair Housing Center — Alvin Nguyen explained that the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center works to ensure that tenants know their rights and works in partnership with a variety of housing and tenants’ organizations.  The Massachusetts Fair Housing Center has received a grant from the Attorney General’s Office to assist tenants in sealing housing records that do not have any negative bearing upon their history as tenants; e.g. a dispute that was settled in the tenant’s favor or was amicably resolved.  These records remain public records available to landlords who may use them to deny a tenant housing even though there is nothing negative in that record or the record is very old and may no longer be applicable.

Massachusetts Fair Housing Center will be doing 15 eviction sealing clinics in Western Massachusetts including in Greenfield and will be assisting individuals in getting their records sealed.  They expect to be doing these clinics during the summer and hope that they can do one at the library in Greenfield.

            Alvin hopes that Housing Greenfield will be able to assist in the clinics.  As he knows more, Alvin will be in touch with us with a specific request for assistance with such things as outreach, etc.

Proposed Rental Registry Ordinance — Susan Worgaftik reminded folks that the Rental Housing Registration and Inspection ordinance will be coming before the Appointments and Ordinance Committee of the City Council on May 13^th where it is expected to pass and move on to the City Council meeting on May 20^th.  She will send out a reminder email for folks to send in letters or speak at these meetings in support of the ordinance.  The reminder will have talking points attached.

Organizational Planning — Lexi Turner reported that Housing Greenfield has developed into a multi-faceted organization over the last 5-6 years.  The Coordinating Committee invited the membership as a whole to participate in reviewing where we have been and consider where we want to move in the future.  The attached information was used as the starting point for a discussion.  Mike Mullin said that he would be willing to work with Lexi, Nikki and Susan on this process.  It was suggested that we use the questions at the end of the attachment as the beginning of a survey of the membership and that we also might want to survey people outside of the group and possibly hold a focus group or planning session based upon the results of the survey.  All of this will be designed to institutionalize Housing Greenfield so that we are not dependent in the future on one or two individuals.  The next steps are:

• Developing the survey and possibly distributing it and collating the results
• Possibly creating subgroups of discussions of ideas that come up in the survey

More to come.

UPDATES:

Tenants’ Union — Susan Worgaftik gave a quick announcement that the first meeting of the Greenfield Tenants’ union was taking place at the same time as our meeting.  We will look forward to learning more about what they are planning to do.

Winslow Renovations — Susan Worgaftik reported that the Greenfield Housing Associates Inc, an affiliate of the Greenfield Housing Authority, will be starting renovations on the Winslow (east corner of Main and West Streets) in June.  Upon completion, the 55 units of the Winslow will officially be supportive housing providing services as well as housing units.  It is hoped that because it is across the street from the Wells Street Shelter and new housing, that there will be a way to coordinate services.  The individuals who require use of the elevator have already been moved to the first floor and residents will be moved to empty apartments within the building as their apartments are renovated.

            Wilson’s—Susan Worgaftik

            Work on Wilson’s has begun.  Go by and check it out.

Summer Get Together

            We will hold our second annual potluck get together on Monday, July 13^th.  Place to be announced.  More information to come.  For folks who did not come to last year’s potluck, this is a non-meeting meeting…just food, good talk and laughter.

Next meeting:  Monday, June 8^th 6:30 pm via zoom

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Nancy Hazard, Amy Cahillane, Lexi Turner, Jen Hale, Pamela Goodwin,  Shaundell Diaz, Bob Williford, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Jack Redman,  Louise Amyot, Ramona Latronica, Mary McClintock, Dionn Casanova

DISCUSSIONS

Proposed Rental Registry Ordinance-Susan Worgaftik
Susan provided a quick history of Housing Greenfield’s involvement with this ordinance.  In 2020, Housing Greenfield determined that it would like to send information on tenants’ rights to folks renting in Greenfield.  We found that there was no single list that had a full listing of rental housing in Greenfield.  In 2023, Housing Greenfield received a small grant from Citizens Housing and Planning Association to do a partial door-to-door survey of housing.  We surveyed downtown using the city assessor’s listing of rental properties and found that the list was incomplete.  We also found that the condition of these properties varied from very good to questionable.  During 2025, Susan Worgaftik and Councilor John Garrett researched housing registries and inspection programs in large cities and nearby towns.  They presented a draft of that ordinance to the Administration and Ordinance Committee of the City Council on April 7th.  Overall, the response from the Committee was positive but there still is some language refinement that must be done.

The proposed ordinance will go before the City Council at the May 20th.  Susan requested that members of Housing Greenfield consider sending supporting letters to the Council or appearing at the Council meeting in person to do public comments.  As soon as the final wording is completed….which should be very soon….Susan will send the final ordinance out to everyone.  In the meantime, Susan developed a listing of who in the City will be doing what.  That listing is attached to this email and was also sent out before the meeting.

There were a number of ideas discussed about how we can get the tenants’ rights information out to residents of Greenfield, but we recognized that first we must get the ordinance passed.

Rent Stabilization Legislation/Referendum-Dionn Casanova, Springfield No One Leaves
Dionn was to have a meeting on April 14th to discuss the present analysis of what is happening with the referendum and the legislation.  There is local option rent stabilization bill that is in the state legislature and there is the referendum which is much more specific in scope which many of us are aware of.  You can find specifics on the bill and the referendum at https://www.homesforallmass.org/.  On April 15th, Susan spoke with Dionn about the April 14th meeting noted above.  The bottom line is that the Homes For All Coalition have very little confidence that the State Legislature is going to support the local option rent stabilization bill.  It ls looking like the referendum will be on the ballot in November.  If you have questions about the referendum or the legislation or anything else involving the rent stabilization effort, you can reach Dionn at 413-230-9051 or dionn@springfieldnooneleaves.org

UPDATES

Hope Street-Amy Cahillane
The city is getting close to finishing the public engagement portion of the request for proposals (RFP) development process.  Soon, Amy will be using the information she has garnered from community discussions, the survey (see https://greenfield-ma.gov/departments/community_and_economic_development/hope_street_development.php if you would like to respond to the survey) and other communications with individuals to draft the RFP.   Once the draft has been developed, there will likely be a meeting or two to review the draft.  After that, the RFP will be finalized and send out to bid.  Amy expects that the RFP will be ready for bidding sometime in late May or June.  Amy was pleased with the breadth of response from residents.  Of particular concern was that the development not “be ugly” and be environmentally friendly.   It will be important for any potential developer to address the questions of parking and pedestrian safety.

Amy was pleased to be able to report that a priority in the latest Community Development Block Grant funding will be infrastructure upgrades…particularly sidewalks… on Prospect Street and Prospect Avenue, and on Amory Street.  This fits in well with the Hope Street development efforts.

Continuum of Care—Shaundell Diaz, Three County CoC
Shaundell gave a brief explanation about what the CoC does. The CoC organizes the community response to homelessness funding and ensures that the services within the system serving unhoused people are properly coordinated.  The Three County CoC serves Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire Counties.  It concentrates on chronic homelessness, the unsheltered population, and the highly vulnerable population including abuse survivors.  The CoC ensures that program standards are maintained, uses a Housing First model to ensure that vulnerable populations become housed as soon as possible, and works to develop community strategies to deal with homelessness issues.  The CoC identifies gaps and brings together resources.

At this time, the blockage of HUD funding to the CoC’s appears to have been lifted.  This was through a lawsuit brought against HUD by a number of Attorney’s General including the AG of Massachusetts.  HUD has committed that they will be releasing the funding that has been held up.  Later this year, the CoC will be able to submit its next proposal and expects that it will be funded.  The big change in what HUD is funding is that the percentage of unhoused persons supported in Housing First projects through CoC funding will decrease to 60% from 87%.  As the previous HUD allowance for these projects was 30%, this is an improvement.  It is not great, but it is doable.

Greenfield Community Preservation Committee Housing Funding—Susan Worgaftik
This year that Greenfield CPC had less than $300,000 to spend on all the projects submitted to it for Housing, Recreation/Open Space, and Historical Preservation.  The CPC will be bringing their recommendations to the City Council in May.  For housing, the recommendations are:

Greenfield Housing Authority–$30,000 to assist Greenfield residents (or future residents of Greenfield) who have found apartments in Greenfield but are unable to give the landlord the first month’s rent, security deposit, or last month’s rent that the landlord is requiring to secure the apartment.  This is not a revolving fund.  People who want to access this funding will have to have a 1-year lease.  Month to month rentals will not be able to access these funds.

RDI–$50,000 will assist RDI in continuing the predevelopment work necessary to develop 176 Main Street.

In a related funding opportunity, the CPC funded $60,000 for the development of the façade on the Wilson’s building.  While this is a historical preservation project requested by Green Fields Market, it does relate to the overall housing development at the Putnam (formerly Wilson’s).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness will be holding its annual event at Holyoke Community College on May 20th 9:30-11:30. Susan will be attending.  There will be legislators, leaders from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and housing advocates there.  It is a time when the region impresses legislators and other leaders about how important this issue is to us.  If you would like to attend, please contact Susan.
• Also, Massachusetts Housing Partnership will be holding its annual conference on June 25th and 26th.  Last year Greenfield was given a leadership award for our work in zoning and the future plans for Hope Street.  That will not be happening this year, but it is a really useful conference and gives a clear overview of what is happening in the state regarding housing.  Susan attended last year but will not be able to attend this year.  If you would like to attend, please check out the announcement that was sent to you on April 14th.  Housing Greenfield has some funds and would be happy to help with registration fees and the cost of driving and parking.  Interested?  Contact Susan for more information.
• Amy announced that there were several awards from the state that were given for housing development projects in Franklin County.  For more on that, see https://www.mass.gov/news/healey-driscoll-administration-invests-more-than-8-million-to-revitalize-neighborhoods-and-expand-homeownership 

Next meeting:  Monday, May 11th 6:30 pm via zoom

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Nancy Hazard, Amy Cahillane, Edie Heinemann, Brace Rennels, Lexi Turner, Garth Shaneyfelt, Jen Hale, Pamela Goodwin, Mike Penn-Strah, Shaundell Diaz, Bob Williford, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Alyssa Larose, Jack Redman, Nikki Garrett, Peter Wackernagel, Pamela Schwartz, Carol Letson, Dorothy McIver, Rachel Gordon, Joannah Whitney, Louise Amyot

Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness—Pamela Schwartz reviewed the state budget priorities that have been put forward by the Network. FY27 Budget Priorities: https://www.westernmasshousingfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/WMNEH-FY27-Budget-Priorities-Updated-2.6.26.pdf.  She also briefly discussed some of the Network’s policy priorities, as well.   Legislative Priorities: https://www.westernmasshousingfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/WMNEH-Legislative-Priorities-2025-2026.pdf.
During the discussion, the following areas were considered:

• Getting rid of the “notice to quit” requirement in RAFT. Often families eligible for RAFT leave their homes when they receive the eviction notice and do not get the RAFT funding that could help them stay in their homes. This should be a priority.
• Expanding the priorities to include disability in many of the programs outlined. Pamela pointed out that Home and Healthy for Good and Permanent Supportive Housing programs both identify the need for housing for people with disabilities. But she said that more programs should identify the extra difficulties the people with disabilities have in finding appropriate housing.
• Emergency Assistance program issues regarding eligibility and documentation have made it harder for families to access temporary housing in shelters. Senator Comerford has been a champion to make changes to these barriers.
• Network legislative priorities include local option for rent control, the local option transfer fee, and access to counsel.
• The Network’s annual at Holyoke Community College will be at 9:30 am on May 29th. This is an opportunity to let legislators and other public officials know our thoughts on housing issues being considered at the State House. For more information, https://www.westernmasshousingfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-annual-event-save-the-date-web.pdf (Susan will be attending. If you want to carpool, please let her know. You can sign-up for the event through the link.)For other information or questions, please contact Pamela at pschwartz77@gmail.com

176 Main Street—Alyssa Larose announced that RDI has received an award of $4 million and Low-Income Tax Credits to build the 32 units planned for 176 Main Street. RDI is also at the top of the wait list for a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank and have made a request for funding from the Greenfield Community Preservation Committee. The project is now 85% funded. The present funding gap is about $1 million. All 32 units will be visitable. Half of the units will be project-based Section 8 apartments for households at 30-50% of Area Median Income. The rest of the units will be for households at 60% of area median income. This is a change as originally the plan was to include households up to 80% AMI. The change came as part of state funding requirements.
The future of the commercial tenants was brought up. Alyssa explained that RDI wanted the tenants to stay in their present spaces as long as possible so that the storefronts would not be empty too long before the construction occurs. The present owner of the buildings, Tim Grader, will be working with the commercial tenants on new spaces for them.
Parking for tenants was also brought up. There are presently 4 parking spaces for tenants. RDI is working with the Parking Commission regarding parking permits in city lots and overnight parking at the Legion Avenue parking area.

Housing and Democracy My Turn—Susan Worgaftik reported that at the February meeting, we discussed the idea that Housing Greenfield might write a My Turn for the Recorder applying the ideas written in the housing and democracy article that had been distributed. Susan had provided a summary of the key points (see attached). Rather than go into a discussion of the key points at this time, Susan suggested that we have a group work on the My Turn. Lexi volunteered to co-write a draft with Susan. Louise and Joannah agreed to review the draft and make comments.

Proposed Section 8 Housing Regulation Changes—Jack Redman, Nikki Garrett and Susan Worgaftik discussed how the new regulations requiring more documentation of residents would impact the residents of their housing authorities. At present “mixed families” of documented and undocumented persons are allowed to live in Section 8 apartments. The supplement that these families receive is based upon the number of documented persons in their household. If the household has 2 people and one is documented and one not, then the Section 8 subsidy would be at 50% of the full subsidy.
While all households presently provide some kinds of documentation to receive Section 8 subsidies, the new regulations would be much stricter requiring birth certificates or passports which many low-income residents do not have and might find it difficult to get. Many of the documented residents are children with undocumented parents. The new regulations would not allow anyone in the family to receive Section 8 subsidies if one member is undocumented. The result would be thousands of families unable to pay rent and will be evicted.  To respond to this, there are national campaigns to stop this and some other new requirements that HUD has announced.

https://pifcoalition.org/campaigns/hud-mixed-status-rule/ The Protect Immigrant Families project has been suggesting that both individuals and organizations send letters in. HUD must, by law, read all the letters before making a final determination on the new rules. It is hoped that there can be enough engagement to prevent the changes from going through. The link to the Protect Immigrant families gives information about an organizational petition that is being sent in as well as how to submit individual letters. It was agreed that Housing Greenfield will sign on to the petition. Susan has done this for the organization. The individual letter tab at this website will also help you to write your letter. HUD is using AI to screen the letters so every letter must be different to assist in this effort.
Jack mentioned that at present the only person on the GHA Section 8 list who would be put in danger by these regulations is an 85-year-old woman who has been with GHA for 18 years. She originally came from Poland and is unlikely to have the documentation that HUD would require. He said that you should feel free to use her story in your letters if you choose.
Housing Greenfield members at the meeting endorsed that we should send individual letters and that we should encourage others to do so as well.

UPDATES

Hope Street—Amy Cahillane reported that the first community conversation on the development of the Hope Street lot consisted of a thoughtful conversation with a variety of comments. There were people in the group who had some major concerns and voiced them. There were also several interesting ideas put on the table. For more information on ways to connect with Amy on this issue, see the attached poster.

Continuum of Care (CoC)—Shaundell Diaz explained that the future of the Three County CoC is still precarious. Some of their present funding is not coming in on time and their future funding is still in limbo. Shaundell sent the following information to us to explain what is happening.

CoC Litigation Updates
Background: In February, HUD filed an emergency motion asking the District Court to dissolve the preliminary injunctions from December, which would enable HUD to reissue the December 2025 CoC NOFO to make awards for CoC grants expiring in Q3 and Q4. The District Court denied HUD’s motion. HUD then filed notice with the District Court that it was appealing this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. HUD also filed an emergency motion to stay the preliminary injunctions pending resolution of the appeal.

• On March 6, the District Court denied HUD’s request to stay the preliminary injunctions pending resolution of the appeal, explaining: “the Court concludes that its issuance of a stay at this juncture will substantially injure Plaintiffs by subjecting them to the upheaval and service gaps caused by Defendants attempt to implement the December 2025 NOFO on an expedited basis.”
• What this means:
  • As of this writing, HUD is still not permitted to put the December 2025 CoC NOFO into effect.
  • HUD is still appealing the District Court’s decision not to dissolve the preliminary injunctions.
  • The District Court has yet to make a final ruling on the case.
• You can see the latest updates here:
  • National Alliance to End Homelessness v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (1:25-cv-00636)
  • State of Washington v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (1:25-cv-00626)
  • Appeal: State of Washington v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (26-1217)

The key things to understand is that there are 11 CoCs in the Commonwealth and that the state cannot assist if HUD’s plans go through. Thousands of people in Massachusetts will be put out of their housing should the plans go through.  She will keep us informed of any developments and where we could help.

Coalition for the Homeless Lobby Day—Pamela Goodwin reported that lobby day was well attended and had 13 speakers with lived experience talk about their situations. Pamela thought it went well and encouraged Housing Greenfield members to contact their legislators and/or their staff to discuss the bills and policies that are important, such as the ones Pamela Schwartz mentioned earlier in the meeting. It makes a difference.

Next meeting: MONDAY, APRIL 13TH 6:30 PM VIA ZOOM.

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Nancy Hazard, Amy Cahillane, Edie Heinemann, Brace Rennels, Lexi Turner, Garth Shaneyfelt, Jen Hale, Pamela Goodwin, Mike Penn-Strah, Mary McClintock

UPDATES
Hope Street—Amy Cahillane:  Plans for community involvement in the development of the Request for Proposals (RFP) of  the Hope Street property have been finalized.

• 3/2   6 pm-8 pm: initial broad community meeting at the Jon Zon Community Center
• 3/3  Precinct 5 community meeting at the YMCA
• 4/2  follow-up broad community meeting on the RFP
• 4/8  follow-up Precinct 5 community meeting on the RFP

Also there will be times for people to speak at Planning Board and City Council Economic Development Committee meetings; tabling at the library, coffee hours, open zoom office hours on Tuesdays 1-2 pm; through an online forum  and through email at HopeStreet@greenfield-ma.gov.

Amy expects that the Request for Proposals will be issued in April.  There will be a review committee including a resident of Precinct 5.  Targeted outreach will be made to the key institutional neighbors of the Hope Street lot including the Court House, Service Net, etc.  A flyer with all this information will be available soon.

HUD Lead Mitigation—Amy Cahillane: The City of Greenfield has received a $2.8 million contract to provide de-leading for homes that meet Community Development Block Grant guidelines.  This will include both renters and homeowners.  It is estimated that it can cover the de-leading of 65 units and should start in April.  The contract will cover services over 4 years.  $400,000 of it is part of the Healthy Home program and would allow payment for additional small repairs.  The city will be doing outreach for these services beginning in April.  When we have this information, Housing Greenfield will work to get the information out, as well.  As it applies to rental units as well as homeowners, this may be helpful in relation to announcements regarding the rental inspection ordinance.

Affordable Housing Trust—Amy Cahillane:  A draft ordinance for the affordable housing trust has been created and was sent to Councilors Gordon and Brown.  They have asked Councilor Sibbison-Alves to move it forward.  As Councilor Sibbison-Alves is a new councilor, it is likely that she will move it forward later this spring when she has had a bit more experience as a councilor.  This ordinance will make it easier for the city to accept gifts or income specifically designated for affordable housing and also move the use of these funds quickly as the committee designated for this work will not have to go before City Council to move the use of these funds along to their intended purpose.  Funds can be used for the purpose of buying property, repairing property, etc. as long as they meet affordable housing guidelines.

Warming Center—Amy Cahillane:  As of February 19th, the warming center has been open for 42 evenings (504 hours).  There have been 20 community members and 26 public safety officers who have staffed the warming center.  The average number of guests has been 12-14 people per night.  The present budget is set for 45 days, but it may be possible to move some budget line items around to support further staffing if needed.

The Interfaith Council has been very helpful in getting more supplies to meet the needs of the guests.

We still need to do more to get the word out, especially when we have to do so on short notice.  Amy will check on whether the digital sign in front of the fire station can be used to announce that the warming center will be open.  As soon as a decision is made that the warming center will be open, information goes out the service organizations, social media, and the digital sign on the Common.

Community Preservation Committee—Susan Worgaftik:  The Greenfield Community Preservation Committee has 3 housing proposals before it:  176 Main Street affordable housing (RDI); renovation of 319 Deerfield Street for two additional affordable apartments at 100% area median income (GHAI); and an expansion of the special fund for first and last month rent for people with Section 8 vouchers who might lose the apartment because they can pay the rent, but do not have the first and last months’ rent to secure it.  All of these proposals have been through the question-and-answer sessions that the CPC conducts as part of its process.  They have been recorded and are on the City’s Youtube site.  The proposals are available at https://greenfield-ma.gov/government/boards_and_commissions/community_preservation_committee_funding.php.  There will be a public hearing on March 19th at 5 pm at the Jon Zon Community Center where the public will be able to make their thoughts known about any of these and the other projects being considered.  Also, in the beginning of March there will be a public response form available where the public will be able to comment on the proposals, as well.  All of this information will be included in the Committee’s deliberations which are scheduled for March 26th.

Rental Housing Inspection Ordinance—Susan Worgaftik:  John Garrett and Susan have presented the draft ordinance to some landlords who made some good suggestions on how to consolidate language.  There are also a few minor questions to be worked out, but we expect that the ordinance will be submitted to the Council in March.  Housing Greenfield will keep you posted about where it is in the process.

Responses to Our Questions regarding the Supportive Housing opening this summer—Susan Worgaftik:  Susan met with Keleigh BenEzra to learn more about the process that will be followed for housing people in the 36 units that will open up on Wells Street this summer.

Referrals will come through the Continuum of Care which keeps a listing of all the unhoused folks in the Franklin, Hampshire and Berkshire Counties—including people living in shelters.  All those applications will be assessed.  As the units on Wells Street will be project based section 8 apartments, all those who are eligible will have to have passed a CORI and must be documented.  The evaluation of possible applicants has begun.  The emphasis will be on Franklin and Hampshire County residents.  The site will have both a case manager for the tenants and a leasing coordinator.  As we get closer to the actual availability of the units, who has been selected will become clearer.  If you know of someone who should be on the list for these units, please ask them to go to CSO and ask for an application.

Food service in the new building, when it opens, will be limited to residents of the shelter and the apartments.

During severe weather, there will be day spaces available at the new shelter and the availability of some additional beds in common areas depending on contracts with the state.

Presently, the shelter provides a cold breakfast and a cold lunch and a hot dinner Monday-Friday from 7 am to 4 pm.

Housing in the Former Center School on Abercrombie Road—Nancy Hazard called noted that we should celebrate the fact that there will be 11 new market rate  1 and 2 bedroom apartments in the former Center School on Abercrombie Road.  They were built by the Zaccheo brothers.  There will be an open house in late February.

Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Fair Housing Listening Session—Pamela Goodwin:  Pamela, Susan, Amy, and 77 other people from the region attended a meeting the EOHLC hosted to discuss fair housing issues.  We think they heard our concerns about regional equity on a variety of housing concerns.  As the follow-up from this meeting (and the others around the state) are consolidated, Housing Greenfield will keep members informed about any further actions that need to be done.

DISCUSSIONS

Budget Priorities of the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness—Susan Worgaftik

https://www.westernmasshousingfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/WMNEH-FY27-Budget-Priorities-1.30.26.pdf

The group agreed that we wanted to hear more about the programs and the priorities from Pamela Schwartz of the Network.  Susan will invite Pamela to our March 9th meeting to discuss the priorities and answer questions.

Article on Housing and Democracy—Susan Worgaftik

https://portside.org/2025-12-18/housing-crisis-democracy-crisis?utm_medium=email&utm_source=portside-snapshot

The group thought this article is important and that we should take the key points from the article, add how this relates to us locally, and make it a My Turn.  For the next meeting, it was suggested that we put together a listing of key points and discuss the local relevance.

Next meeting:  MONDAY, MARCH 9TH 6:30 PM VIA ZOOM.

Housing Greenfield Meeting Notes –January 12, 2026

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Wisty Rorabacher, Nancy Hazard, Carol Letson, Amy Cahillane, Edie Heinemann, Brace Rennels, Louise Amyot, Judy Draper, Nikki Garrett, Lexi Turner, Garth Shaneyfelt, Jen Hale, John Garrett, Jack Redman, Charity Day, Joannah Whitney, Mike Mullin, Jaimye Bartak, Pamela Goodwin, Rachel Gordon

Decisions and areas for further discussion were made are in red. Save the dates are in green.

Updates

Greenfield Warming Center—Amy Cahillane
     The Warming Center has been open 18 nights as of 1/12/26.  It started off slow with 2-6 guests each night, but as last year, is now starting to be more populated with up to 12 guests recently.  The funding from the state will soon be available.  Amy will be sending out stipend paperwork to everyone who has volunteered.  If a volunteer does not wish to take the stipend, it will remain with the program and used for other related costs.
On some nights, the 3-7 shift has not had a community volunteer.  Amy is reaching out to community partners to see if those slots can be filled.  While we all agree that the best situation is for there to always be two people on staff at the Warming Center, some of the service chiefs have said that 1 police, fire or sheriff’s officer can handle it.  Bottom line is that it is up to the service chief to make that call.

Hope Street—Amy Cahillane
     Community meetings regarding the request for proposals (RFP) for the Hope Street lot will begin in February.  They will start out with one city-wide meeting and one Hope Street neighborhood meeting that will be designed to get input on the content of the RFP.   There will be a second set of community-wide and neighborhood meetings which will occur later to review the RFP draft.  In addition, Amy will have open office hours in person and on zoom where ideas can be shared.  There will also be tabling at the library and a dedicated email address where input can be submitted.  The dates for these sessions will soon be finalized.  They will be publicized through social media, city council meetings, press releases, on the Housing Greenfield section of the Greening Greenfield website, the city’s electronic bulletin boards and flyering at downtown businesses.  The Precinct 5 publicity will add mailing/or flyering door to door to the list above.
The process overall will start in February and close in late March or early April.  The RFP will be issued for responses in the spring.

Affordable Housing Trust—Amy Cahillane
     The draft ordinance has been completed and is now in the hands of Councilors Brown and Gordon.  It will start its way through the Council process in February or March.  The Councilors will keep us informed about when letters and testimony will be requested.

Wilson’s—Amy Cahillane
     Cleary’s Jewelers has moved out and will soon open at the Home Depot Plaza.  Preparatory construction by the DPW and Eversource is already underway.  There is no timeframe beyond that at this point.

Wells Street Shelter and Housing Construction—Susan Worgaftik
     Alyssa Larose is still on maternity leave….mother and baby are doing well.  Susan received the following update from Peter Graham of Valley Housing Consultants, who is working on the project. “The project is progressing well.  We are no longer on track for a May/June opening.  This has moved to July.  The simple explanation has been typical delays in construction, the complexity of converting 3 old connected buildings together with a new addition has slowed things by a few months.”
“As I am sure folks can see by the progress on the site, the building is taking shape and looks great.”
Questions asked about the Wells Street housing once it is finished were:

• Will locally unhoused people have first option on the housing or will it have to go through a lottery?
• Will the Arch Street site be able to provide lunch and laundry for people from the Warming Center on Sundays?
• What will the walk-in services at the new shelter look like once it is open?  Will there be any screening for the food services, for instance?
• Susan said that she will check with Keleigh BenEzra about these questions and have responses for the next meeting.

Questions

Greening Greenfield/Housing Greenfield Website—Peg Hall
     The Housing Greenfield portion of the Greening Greenfield website has sections which are defined as “aspects”.  Peg asked the group for assistance in developing the latest aspect “Keeping It”.  This category would discuss various programs and services that allow people to maintain residency in their homes such as information on tax breaks for seniors and disabled people, the new Elderly and Disabled Tax Fund, the senior tax work off, etc.
It was suggested that Peg check the Greenfield Assessors Office webpage for some of the answers to the questions she presented.  Amy Cahillane said that she would provide housing rehabilitation information from her office.  Susan said that she would get Community Legal Aid information to Peg.

Discussion

Rental Housing Inspection Ordinance—John Garrett and Susan Worgaftik
     John and Susan have been working on the development of a rental housing ordinance that will include three major components:

• A rental registry—where all rental apartments in the city will register with the city
• Regular, coordinated housing inspections for housing on a rotating 5 year basis—among the exemptions are owner-occupied houses with 6 or fewer apartments, including the owner’s apartment. –This takes the onus of inspections away from tenants calling in a complaint and makes it a regular part of doing business
• Tenant safeguards—to ensure that tenants who are concerned about the health and safety of the apartment are not evicted or otherwise harassed for voicing their concerns to the city

The goals for this legislation are:

• To provide an inventory of privately owned housing in the City of Greenfield
• To meet the health and safety needs of the residents of private rental housing in the City of Greenfield
• To ensure an accurate count of rental housing in the City of Greenfield so that assessment will be fair and accurate for all residents.

Summary of the ordinance had been sent to members prior to this meeting.

The discussion included:

• clarifying exactly which provisions apply to which units?
• Ensuring that tenants have a copy of the self-inspection form which the landlord submits to the Health Department
• The permit is posted in a public place and notice of where a complaint be made as part of that posting
• Inspection reports be accessible to the public
• There is a real need for landlord outreach before this is discussed publicly.  In addition to contacting any individual landlords, it was suggested that John and Susan should reach out to the Landlord Business Association.
• John and Susan will work on these refinements and outreach during the month of January and report back on their progress at the February meeting.

 Present: Susan Worgaftik, Charity Day, Louise Amyot, Nikki Garrett, Edie Heinemann, Peg Hall, Dorothy McIver, John Garrett, Alyssa Larose, Mary McClintock, Pamela Goodwin, Tom Bledsoe, Sara Brown, Nancy Hazard, Jessa McCormack, Mike Penn-Strah, Amy Clarke, Emily Greene, Lexi Turner, Carol Letson, Erin Forbush, Nuri Sherif

Decisions and areas for further discussion were made are in red. Save the dates are in green.

Discussions

ADU Final Regulations—Susan Worgaftik
Discussion around the ADU regulations was brief and to the point.  The regulations basically state that municipalities cannot impose regulations on ADUs that would not be imposed on the original structure on the lot.  The regulations also grandfathered non-conforming structures so that they could become ADUs by right if so desired.  This means that if you want to make an ADU out of your garage which was built in 1920 and does not meet today’s requirements for a 10-foot setback, you are still allowed to make it into an ADU by right.  The present-day zoning requirements cannot be used to make it impossible for you to do so.

      There were concerns expressed about corporations buying up single family homes and turning them into rental units with an ADU as an additional apartment.  The overall tenor of the discussion was that corporations can buy up houses now and under Greenfield statutes can make apartments out of an existing one family structure by right.  This issue does not change with the availability of building an unattached ADU.  It can happen regardless.  The question of corporate acquisition of housing for profit is one that is important to consider on its own.  Including it in opposition to ADUs is not really appropriate.

       The footprint that determines the size of an ADU includes basements and attics so most small homes can accommodate an ADU as long as they meet other zoning requirements.  An ADU cannot be larger than 900 square feet without a special permit.

       The regulations emphasize that municipalities can regulate that ADUs cannot be used for short-term rentals like Airbnb.

       It is estimated in the housing plan that 18 ADUs will be built in Greenfield over the next 10 years.  This is not really an answer to the housing crisis.

Family Shelter Concerns—Erin Forbush
The family shelter at the Days Inn will be closed as of February 28^th.  It is the first motel shelter to be closed in Western Massachusetts and others are likely to follow.  Presently, there are 6 families awaiting placement.  All have been placed in apartments and will move out before the closing date.  Overall, the Days Inn shelter housed about 60 families, all of whom have been placed in housing.  Most of them stayed in Western Massachusetts.  The Greenfield Family Inn at 128 Federal Street continues to run and is home to 16 families.

      Erin explained the changes that are looming for the family shelter system.  Massachusetts has been a right to shelter state for families (not for adult individuals or couples).  In previous years, the efforts were to remove barriers and get families into housing as soon as possible.  In general, the resources were there to do this.  The bill that has just passed the Massachusetts House of Representatives will change that if enacted by the Senate. The new rules will require applicants to prove Massachusetts residency, require documentation prior to providing shelter (a change from before where documentation could be acquired after being admitted to a shelter), and the allowable time in a shelter will be reduced from 9 months to 6 months.

Housing Greenfield is encouraging members to contact Senator Comerford to reject these restrictions as the bill goes to the Senate.  Information regarding this issue was sent to members directly after the meeting.

Wells Street Shelter Update—Alyssa Larose
Internal building construction has begun at the site of the former shelter.  Abatement and demolition are presently in progress.  There will be major renovations to the present structures.  The construction is expected to take 14 months for both the shelter renovations and the 36 units of supportive housing that will also be on that site.  It is expected that both will open at the same time in the spring of 2026.

Letter of Support Request—Alyssa Larose
Alyssa requested a letter of support from Housing Greenfield for the 170-186 Main Street project.  The application will be submitted to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities on February 27^th.   It was unanimously agreed that Housing Greenfield should do a letter of support.

Alyssa will contact Susan about the basic content for this letter.

Reports

            Continuing the work of Housing Greenfield—Susan Worgaftik
Susan was pleased to report that Housing Greenfield now has a coordination team.  Yay!! The team includes Nikki Garrett, Jessa McCormack and Lexi Turner.  The group is just starting to meet and will establish what roles they will each take over the course of the next few months.  In the meantime, do not be surprised if you receive an email from one of them about Housing Greenfield concerns.

                 Last month, Pamela brought up the question of whether our meetings should be recorded and made available to anyone who wants to view them.  Our discussion centered around the ability of people within the group to be able to be open about what they think about issues.  People felt that there is a great deal of trust within the group, and this is an important element of why the group works.  After considerable discussion, the membership at this meeting voted not to record the meetings, but to make the notes available to anyone who is interested in reading them.  It was also mentioned that the notes are available on the greening greenfield website https://greeninggreenfieldma.org/programs/housing-greenfield/

            Rental Housing Survey Project—Susan Worgaftik
Jessa and Susan have begun working with our GCC intern, Bela Bupp-Chickering to prepare him for doing the visual survey of rental housing in Greenfield.  Susan and Bela will meet on February 11^th to try out the computer-based form that credential for Bela to wear when he does his surveys and the police have been informed that he is doing this work.

            Transfer Fee Bills—Greenfield and Statewide—Susan Worgaftik
After discussion with Amy Cahillane, Councilor Sara Brown, Anna Oltman and Christian LaPlante, it was decided that the request for a home rule petition for the transfer fee should wait until we have a municipal affordable housing trust established.  The statewide Local Option for Housing Affordability coalition (LOHA) has been informed of this decision and concurs that it is the correct move at this time.

Meanwhile, LOHA is once again trying to get the transfer fee passed.  The transfer fees would be a local option.  Transfer fees are fees attached to the sale of property (in this case housing) that become part of the transaction.  The LOHA coalition and the home rule petition that Susan submitted to some city councilors (see attached) would provide for a transfer fee of .5% to 2%(determined by the municipality) on the amount paid for a property that is MORE THAN the county median.  So, if my house were sold for $350,000 and the median for Franklin County is $300,000, then the transfer fee would apply to the $50,000 above the median.  If Greenfield decided on a 1% transfer fee that would allow for $500 to go to an affordable housing trust for support of affordable housing.  The community would decide if the $500 would be paid by the buyer, the seller or split between them.  The transfer fee could be included in the mortgage.  The transfer fee bill would have to be approved by the city council and then would go to a community vote.

  Greenfield Warming Center—Susan delivered a report from Amy Cahillan
Folks in residence at the warming center are averaging 15-17 per night that the center is open.  This is slightly higher than was anticipated.  The partnership with the Salvation Army, Medical Reserve Corps, Opioid Task Force, the Sheriff, Police, Fire and the city administration is going well.  They are still working out kinks, both large and small.  They anticipate that there will be a need for a warming center next winter as well, so they are solving both short-term concerns while planning for the long-term.  They would welcome any feedback that anyone has to offer.

Announcements

               The Community Preservation Committee will be holding a public hearing on all of the applications received for this round of CPC funding on February 27^th 5:30 pm at the Jon Zon Community Center.  The meeting will be hybrid.  Housing Greenfield provided support letters to two applications:

            Noah Grunberg’s gray water diversion project for the Stone Farm Lane development.  Greywater Recycling Pilot Project

            Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity’s development of an affordable home on Birch Street Birch Street Project

            It would be great if some members of Housing Greenfield could attend this public hearing in support of these projects.

Housing Greenfield members will receive a reminder later in the month about these hearings.

            Alyssa mentioned that she has read the Commonwealth’s new housing plan and has found that it is underwhelming in regard to housing needs in Western Massachusetts.  We agreed that we will read it for discussion and possibly action at our March meeting.  The link is https://www.mass.gov/doc/a-home-for-everyone/download

Next Meeting

      Our regularly scheduled next meeting will be March 10^th 6:30 pm on zoom.

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Anna Oltman, Charity Day, Ella Condon, Louise Amyot, Nikki Garrett, Edie Heinemann, Peg Hall, Dorothy McIver, John Garrett, Alyssa Larose, Jen Hale, Jack Redman, Mary McClintock,  Wisty Rorabacher, Pamela Goodwin, Shaundell Diaz, Rachel Gordon, Tom Bledsoe, Christy Lemoine, Sara Brown, Judy Draper, Nancy Hazard,Jessa McCormack, Nan Sibley

Discussions:

Continuing the work of Housing Greenfield
Susan reminded folks that she is looking for someone to share the responsibilities of Housing Greenfield.  She is not looking for someone to go to all the meetings that she attends, but for someone who will gradually take on the responsibilities of some of the organizational maintenance tasks and be a person to share overview concerns of the organization.  As no one has yet stepped forward, she will be talking to some people about this.

Zoning Regulation Changes
     The zoning changes related to housing that were voted in December, and that we supported (See December notes) are up for review at the City Council meeting on January 15^th.  The meeting will be at the Jon Zon at 6:30 pm.  If Housing Greenfield members can come to the meeting either in person or virtually or write to the council about your support of these changes, that would be very helpful.

Transfer Fee Bills—Greenfield and Statewide
     The Local Option for Housing Affordability coalition (LOHA) is once again trying to get the transfer fee passed.  The transfer fees would be a local option.  Transfer fees are fees attached to the sale of property (in this case housing) that become part of the transaction.  The LOHA coalition and the home rule petition that Susan submitted to some city councilors (see attached) would provide for a transfer fee of .5% to 2%(determined by the municipality) on the amount paid for a property that is MORE THAN the county median.  So, if my house were sold for $350,000 and the median for Franklin County is $300,000, then the transfer fee would apply to the $50,000 above the median.  If Greenfield decided on a 1% transfer fee that would allow for $500 to go to an affordable housing trust for support of affordable housing.  The community would decide if the $500 would be paid by the buyer, the seller or split between them.  The transfer fee could be included in the mortgage.  The transfer fee bill would have to be approved by the city council and then would go to a community vote.

     The LOHA coalition has requested that as many communities as possible put through home rule petitions to demonstrate the interest.  A home rule petition is not a commitment to actually put through a transfer fee.  It is a request to the state for the option of doing so.  It does not commit Greenfield to any action.  And, frankly, it is unlikely to pass as last year there were at least 10 cities and town including Boston that had home rule petitions that were not supported.  This is much more an effort to support the statewide bill.

Susan will work on this with the councilors as part of a housing package which will likely include an affordable housing trust.

Housing Greenfield voted to support this process moving forward.

Also, LOHA will have the numbers of the new transfer fee state bill shortly.  When she receives those, she will provide sample letters for requesting that Natalie and Susannah co-sponsor and thanking Jo for sponsoring.  If possible, members should send emails similar to those letters.

Reports:

Rural Development Inc. Update—Alyssa Larose
     The Planning Board approved RDI’s plans for 170-186 Main Street (see December notes for more detail)  RDI will be applying for state funding this February, but it is more likely that they will receive funding the next round for FY 2027.  RDI will be setting up some community meetings in March.  It was suggested that they be recorded by GCTV.  The ownership will be an LLC because there will be tax credits involved.  And they will be paying property taxes.  Alyssa will be setting up a fact sheet about the project.  It was suggested that a packet with FAQs might be helpful.  It was noted by Ella Condon that at least one of the businesses in the building was unaware of the project and there might need to be some discussions with her.

At the February meeting, Alyssa will make a request for a letter of support for the proposal.

Rental Housing Survey Project
     Susan reported that the project is moving along well.  We have contacts with both No One Leaves Springfield and Neighbor to Neighbor who have agreed to provide tenant information if people have tenant questions.  We have been working with the Assessor’s Office to also provide an anonymous questionnaire that they will use for evaluation.  Bela Bupp-Chickering, the GCC student involved in the project, will have city credentials so that he will be able to show them if he is questioned about his legitimacy in doing this survey.  We have a google docs survey document which will allow Bela to put the data  in via his cell phone.  Susan and Bela will do a test survey in early to mid-February to try out the google doc and then make adjustments.  The survey will then be used from February through May.

     Two days after our meeting, the Recorder ran an article on the survey. https://www.recorder.com/Greenfield-Community-College-student-will-help-map-rental-properties-in-city-58905294

Greenfield Warming Center—Anna Oltman & Christy Lemoine

• Hours: 7pm – 7am on nights where the temperature drops below 15 degrees, or when opening is otherwise warranted

• The center has been open for 13 overnights thus far, with 4 more evenings scheduled through 1/17 — so a total of 17 evenings by this Friday.

• Volunteers are coordinated through the Medical Reserve Corps and staff the center in teams of 2, working for 4 hour shifts (7pm-11pm; 11pm-3am; 3am-7am)

• Volunteers are pulled from the MRC, community members and public safety (police and fire). We will be making some changes so that public safety is asked to sign up later in the outreach process, as we’ve heard we have volunteers who have not been able to volunteer because all shifts are full.

• We are working with the MRC to get all volunteers CORI’d / SORI’d, and we are encouraging volunteers to join the MRC volunteer corps

• The Opioid Task Force has been an amazing partner, both in helping to solicit volunteers and source supplies, as well as in operating other warming centers throughout the region.

• The number of guests has ranged from 2 to 17, with 13-15 being the census on most nights recently.

Point in Time Count—Shaundell Diaz

     The 3-County Continuum of Care Program will be holding its annual Point in Time Count of the number of unhoused individuals and families in our region on January 29^th.  This is an annual effort that documents the need for funding and the types of programming we need.  Reports will be accepted from January 29^th through February 5^th.  For more information and training, https://www.threecountycoc.communityaction.us/pitcount2025

New Housing Possibilities

     Last month we discussed 2 properties that Bob Williford had located as housing possibilities.  Susan followed up with Amy Cahillane and the Mayor:

• 46 Severance Street will be a park in the near future.  The building on the property has already been taken down.  There is no Greenfield park on that side of Route 2 so this will be a benefit to the community.
•  7 Petty Plain Road will be in limbo until the fate of the Green River School is determined.  It is part of that property and will either become a part of the overall plan for that property or will be treated as a separate entity.

Shelter Updates:

Adult Shelter –Report from Keleigh BenEzra

     The Wells Street Shelter is fully moved into Arch Place.  There are 45 beds filled every night.  If someone has an assigned bed, but for some reason will not be at the shelter on a given night, that bed is filled for that night with someone who could use it.  The shelter is also providing day warming center services for people who were in the warming center but had to leave the warming center at 7 am when it closes.

 Days Inn Family Shelter—Susan Worgaftik, information from Mayor Desorgher

     As of 1/13/25, there are about 13 families still left in the Days Inn, which will be closed as a family shelter by the Commonwealth on February 28^th.  The families are being placed into housing.  No one will simply be left to fend for themselves at the close of the shelter.  No new families are being accepted into the family shelter.

Procedural Questions for Discussion:
Within the course of the meeting two questions arose:

• Can our meetings be recorded?
• Should our meeting be announced more publicly, for instance in the Recorder or as an event on the city calendar?
• We will discuss these at the next meeting.

Next Meeting:
Our regularly scheduled next meeting will be February10^th 6:30 pm on zoom.

Two attachments to these minutes may be accessed here:

Home Rule Petition

Leaflet Copy

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Anna Oltman, Charity Day, Amy Cahillane, Ella Condon, Mike Penn-Strah, Louise Amyot, Nikki Garrett, Edie Heinemann, Nancy Hazard, Andrea Donlon, Al Norman, Peg Hall, Mitch Speight, Joan Marie Jackson, Dorothy McIver, John Garrett, Bob Williford, Alyssa Larose, Jen Hale, Sara Brown, Nuri Sherif, Patty O’Neill, Carol Letson, Erin Forbush, Megan McDonough

DISCUSSIONS
     Distressed Properties — Amy Cahillane made a very thorough presentation of how distressed or abandoned properties are handled by the City of Greenfield.  The attached slides provide the key points of her presentation.  A few definitions for those of you unfamiliar with bureaucratic alphabet soup:

• HPG—Housing Preservation Grant (US Dept. of Agriculture)
• CDBG—Community Development Block Grants (Federal funds that come to the city through the Commonwealth)
• GSB—Greenfield Savings Bank

 A couple of notes that were not in the slides:

• Community Action runs the Greenfield Housing Rehabilitation program for the city.  The city administers it.  If you are interested in this program, contact the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development for an application
• It is often difficult to find developers who are willing to take on smaller repair jobs.  If non-profits or community groups are interested in encouraging such work, the Department of Community and Economic Development would be happy to work with them to move through the process.

      The Accessory Dwelling Unit Petition — A petition including more than 100 signatures was submitted to the City Council.  It will be considered by the Council in November.  The wording of the petition is:

 As part of the site plan review, the Planning Board shall determine that the total land area of a parcel submitted for the addition of an Accessory Dwelling Unit shall not be less than one half (.5) acre.  The new acreage of total land in a parcel, minus all dwellings, including all proposed Accessory Dwelling Units, internal roads or driveways, or other buildings or developments, shall be considered open space, and shall comprise at least 50% of the parcel.  All Accessory Dwelling Units shall meet the minimum setback requirements for the district in which it is located.  ADUs shall not be used for short term rentals.

Al Norman, Mitch Speight and Joan Marie Jackson made presentations in support of this petition.  Their presentations are attached to these notes.  Following the presentation there was a question-and-answer period and then a discussion of what position, if any, that Housing Greenfield should take on the matter.  One question that came up was whether an increase in housing would cause rents to rise.  Anna provided the following information to demonstrate that this would not be the case.  https://commonweathbeacon.org/housing/study-says-boosting-housing-production-tempres-rents/

After much discussion, the membership agreed through a vote to submit testimony to the joint public hearing of the City Council Economic Development Committee and the Greenfield Planning Board on November 7^th.  This attached statement to go before this public hearing reflects the discussion.

     Request for a letter of support
Megan McDonough of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity presented their plans for developing a small, affordable single family home for people at 60% of the Area Median Income at 5 Birch Street in Greenfield.  This project is presently before the Greenfield Community Preservation Committee for funding.  A vote was taken and it was agreed that Susan will write a letter of support to be submitted as part of the proposal to the CPC.

UPDATES

     Rural Development Inc. — Alyssa Larose
The 42 Cleveland Street receivership project has received its certificate of occupancy from the city.  The Greenfield Tree Committee has planted 2 trees in the front of the house.  A lottery for the property was held.  There were 30 applicants and 11 were deemed eligible.  Names were picked in the lottery and the chosen applicant has been notified.  If, for some reason, that person is unable or unwilling to take occupancy of the house, the next applicant in the lottery will be notified.
     This receivership project was an experiment that generally has been successful although it was very expensive and did require grant funding for completion.  The Affordable Homes Act (Housing Bond Bill) did make some changes that make it easier for non-profits to be involved in the receivership program.
     RDI is looking at a second project in Montague and also looking at some other sites in Greenfield.

The 156-182 Main Street development has received funds from Mass Development’s site readiness funds.  Alyssa hopes to provide more information about this project at our December meeting.

Winter 2024-2025 — Anna Oltman

• The warming center will be at the Salvation Army.  Staffing will be through the Medical Reserve Corps.
• The Greenfield shelter is planning to move its guests to the temporary shelter site during the month of November.  The specific dates are not clear.

CONTACTS AND PLANS
     Rental Housing Survey Planning — Susan reported that she has talked to folks at GCC about this project and they are going to assist us in finding a student who will receive a stipend for assisting in the survey.  The student will also receive academic credit.  The original plan was for three students to work for a couple of weeks to get the data.  GCC suggested that working with a single student for a semester would be more effective and we agreed to go in that direction.

     Contacts — Because none of the rural/Western Massachusetts supported amendments to the Housing Bond Bill were included in the final Affordable Homes Act, Susan was concerned about how the “regional equity” statements would actually be accomplished in a political atmosphere where there will be great pressure to get as many units of housing built is as short a period of time as possible.  Toward that end, Susan has spoken with Kathleen Bitetti, State Auditor’s Office; James Fuccione, Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative, and the CHAPA legislative team.  More to come on this.

NEXT MEETING — It was agreed that our next meeting will be Monday, December 9^th at 6:30 over zoom       (Yes, we are back to our regularly scheduled second Monday.)

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Chuck Green, Amy Clarke, Anna Oltman, Charity Day, Amy Cahillane, Ella Condon, Mike Penn-Strah, Louise Amyot, Wisty Rorabacher, Mary McClintock, Nikki Garrett, Rachel Gordon, Judy Draper, Edie Heinemann, Nancy Hazard, Jack Redman, Andrea Donlon, Pamela Goodwin, Ginny Desorgher, Noah Grunberg, Emily Greene, Steve Wilson.

Discussions
Jack Redman, new Executive Director of the Greenfield Housing Authority—Jack has worked in housing for 17 years. He noted several projects that he is working on right now:

• At the Winslow, 9 Wells Street there is a great need for repairs including the need to modernize the elevator, provide new windows and roofing. There is also a need to increase the social, mental health and substance abuse services available to residents, perhaps through CSO. He is working on a $5 million supportive housing proposal to meet these needs.

• At 300 Conway Street—GHA has received $35000 in pre-development funding to establish whether it is possible to transition the original plans for 4 2-bedroom un-accessible townhouses and 1 accessible apartment to 5 1-bedroom accessible units, possibly of modular housing. When asked about the possibility of those units being 2 bedroom, Jack said that he is aware of the need and is waiting for architectural information to see if that would be possible.

• Section 8 vouchers—Right now GHA has 300 Section 8 vouchers in Greenfield, but it is difficult to use these vouchers because landlords want first month, last month and security deposit money as soon as they have agreed on the apartment.  Although this funding can come through RAFT, the process is slow and many people with Section 8 vouchers lose possible apartments because they cannot get the money for the landlords fast enough.  Through Greenfield CPC funds, Jack hopes to set up a fund to meet those needs so more people will be able to use their Section 8 vouchers.  He also hopes to do more landlord education about Section 8.

Greenfield Housing Plan
We discussed some of the elements of the Greenfield Housing plan.  It verifies what we know of the need for 600 or more additional units in Greenfield.  If you wish to look at the plan, go to:  https://cms5.revize.com/revize/greenfield/departments/community_and_economic_development/housingstudy.php

Amy Cahillane mentioned that the study will be helpful in getting funds for housing into Greenfield as it documents the need.  It also assists her department in setting priorities and has already assisted with initial efforts to start an affordable housing trust in Greenfield.  It also documents what housing is in the pipeline presently.

Discussion included queries about matching people with an extra room in their house with people who need a place to live.  Lifepath had such a program but found it difficult.  There were people willing to share homes, but there was only one placement.  This kind of program has been successful in Brattleboro.  Find out more at https://baahvermont.org/our-programs/apartments-in-homes/

Changes to the Cluster Development Ordinance
Although neither George Touloumtzis, Chair of the Planning Board, nor Eric Twarog, City Planner, could meet with us to discuss the changes in the Cluster Development ordinance, they did send a pdf that is an attachment to these notes.  The key things in this attachment are:

• This is for parcels of 5 acres or more and allows for no more than 50% of the available land to be used for housing.  This open space is defined as agricultural land, recreational land, or conservation land.
• This is a part of a larger effort to protect the Deerfield River watershed
• Greenfield already has a cluster development ordinance.  This is an effort to update it.
• Through a series of incentives, it allows for more dense housing on the portion of the land to be used than present zoning allows.

 At the City Council Economic Development Committee meeting on October 8^th, the committee voted to accept the recommendations of the Planning Board with the addition of including the use of universal design as one of the incentives in the list (see the last page of the attached presentation)

Jack mentioned that a project in Stowe is a good example of this kind of cluster development.  That information can be found at https://mcoassociates.com/current-projects.  Mayor Desorgher also noted that the condominiums at Silver Crest Lane are an example of cluster development.

The Accessory Dwelling Unit Petition—A petition including more than 100 signatures was submitted to the City Council.  It will be considered by the Council in November.  The wording of the petition is:

As part of the site plan review, the Planning Board shall determine that the total land area of a parcel submitted for the addition of an Accessory Dwelling Unit shall not be less than one half (.5) acre.  The new acreage of total land in a parcel, minus all dwellings, including all proposed Accessory Dwelling Units, internal roads or driveways, or other buildings or developments, shall be considered open space, and shall comprise at least 50% of the parcel.  All Accessory Dwelling Units shall meet the minimum setback requirements for the district in which it is located.  ADUs shall not be used for short term rentals.

The new state law, which goes into effect in February, states that ADUs that are allowed by right can be no larger than 900 square feet.  The wording in the petition rules that almost no ADUs would be allowed in the area of Greenfield south of Silver Street.   Please consider this petition.  We will be discussing this petition at our November 4^th meeting.

Request for a letter of support
Noah Grunberg, who is working on the 24-28 unit cooperative development to be built on Stone Farm Lane, has submitted a pre-application to the Greenfield Community Preservation Committee for funding to design a gray water recycling system for this development.  The system would recycle water from sinks and showers to be filtered and used for laundry or for landscaping.  He estimates that this would save 1000 gallons of water per day from going into the sewer system.  This would make the housing more sustainable and affordable.  He requested a letter of support.  A vote was taken and it was agreed that Susan will write a letter of support to be submitted as part of the proposal to the CPC.

Updates

Winter 2024-2025—Anna Oltman
The warming center will be at the Salvation Army.  Staffing is now being worked upon.  There will be additional backup warming facilities through the Sheriff’s office if needed.  Amy Clarke said that if it would be helpful for Larry Thomas to be paid to assist in the staffing, the Interfaith Council might be able to assist with this.

Next Meeting
It was agreed that our next meeting will be Monday, November 4th 6:30 over zoom          

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Chuck Green, Amy Clarke, Anna Oltman, Alyssa Larose, Joannah Whitney, Shaundell Diaz, Charity Day, Amy Cahillane, Jessa McCormack, Mitchell Speight, Joan Marie Jackson, Ella Condon, Mike Penn-Strah, Louise Amyot, Wisty Rorabacher, Mary McClintock, Al Norman, Nikki Garrett, John Garrett, Rachel Gordon, Judy Draper, Edie Heinemann, Dorothy McIver, Nancy Hazard, Judy Atkins,

Updates

Greenfield Housing Study—Amy Cahillane
The City’s housing study is ready. Click here to view video of Part 1 of the Study.

The presentation (Part 2) will be held on September 12^th at 5:30 pm at the Jon Zon Center, remotely on Zoom: https://greenfield-ma-gov.zoom.us/j/99013351906?pwd=NglxBiwAyDlappGQHv2NMY9IZhGy7F.1

Discussions

Zoning Changes—Councilor John Garrett
I have attached the specific language of the zoning changes that are being considered. They will be considered for a vote in October. We will devote part of our October meeting to considering these changes and if we want to comment on any of them as an organization. Please read them carefully.  To view proposed zoning changes, click here.

Comments and questions at the meeting included:

  –Why is a building with a single front entrance included in the zoning laws at all? And if so, why is the number of units in the building important? 50 is better than 24.

  –On Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): Should site plan review require that the abutters be notified so they can weigh in? Recently, there was a meeting with EOHLC and town planners to discuss the new ADU law. There seems to be some nuance in the way the law is being interpreted. We should learn more about that.

Trailers and Campers in private yards as Interim Alternative Housing until New Affordable Housing Can Be Built
Chuck Green has provided us with the slides he used in his presentation. They are attached. This idea prompted a great number of questions:

  –How will sewage and provision of clean water be handled?

  –Would this create a landlord/tenant relationship between the property owner and camper resident and is that covered under present state laws?

  –How would electrical be handled?

  –Most campers are not designed for cold weather. What happens then?

  –How does this idea fit with existing state law which says that people cannot live in temporary vehicles as housing for more than 6 months of the year or that temporary vehicles cannot be on a piece of land for more than 6 months?

  –Would there need to be registration of these housing situations?

  –How does this fit with existing city regulations regarding trailer park/campground and the amount of land required?

  –In essence aren’t these ADUs with wheels?

  –Is there a difference between a landowner owning the RV/camper/trailer or the person living in it owning it in terms of legality?

  –What is the cost to the city to inspect these vehicles and the health and safety requirements necessary for them?

  –Is there an expectation of the property owner to keep the camper warm in the winter?

To view the proposal to allow trailers and campers in Greenfield, click here.  To view Mr. Green’s slideshow, click here.

Changes to the Cluster Development Ordinance—Susan Worgaftik
The Economic Development Committee of the City Council will be considering changes to the cluster development zoning that is presently on the books. Susan said that she noticed that there were incentives for cluster development in the ordinance according to the Recorder article. She noted that there were no incentives for making the properties accessible for disabled people and that there should be. Housing Greenfield voted to bring this up to the Economic Development Committee at their meeting on September 10^th.

  –There was also a question about the size of the parcel being considered, 5 acres. Could there not be smaller parcels for consideration…possibly 2 or 3 acres?

CHAPA Funding Opportunity–Susan Worgaftik
We and many other housing advocacy groups around the state were contacted by CHAPA that they were given a grant to allow groups to provide services to the community. Susan suggested that Housing Greenfield should request $1500 (the maximum funding allowed) to begin a housing registration project where students from GCC are employed to go door to door to establish addresses of rental units and also drop off tenant rights information. It was agreed that the proposal should be written.

Updates

Winter 2024-2025—Anna Oltman
  –The City recently held a meeting to discuss this issue. Anna was pleased to report that a site for a pop-up warming center for very cold nights has been identified. The city is now working on the question of staffing for this site.

Community Education about Encampments—Susan Worgaftik
  –There has been a great deal going on regarding the planning for winter and the changes in the rules for family shelters and the group has not met. We will report back in October.

Next Meeting:  Monday, October 7^th 6:30 over zoom.

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Chuck Green,  Amy Clarke, Anna Oltman, Alyssa Larose, Joannah Whitney,  Shaundell Diaz, Charity Day, Versa Clarke, Jan Maher, Amy Cahillane, Christine Madore, Nan Sibley, Jessa McCormack

Decisions and areas for further discussion were made are in red. Comments made on the chat are in purple. Save the dates are in green.  Responses to questions that came in by the time that these notes were written are in olive.

Updates

Status of 42 Cleveland Street—Alyssa Larose (A clarification of the Cleveland Street discussion has been submitted by Alyssa LaRosa.  This has been added at the end of these minutes.)
Applications for 42 Cleveland Street are now available for first time homebuyers.  For an application:  https://fcrhra.org/affordable-homeownership/

Greenfield Housing Study—Amy Cahillane
The City’s housing study is almost ready.  The presentation will be September 12th at 5:30 pm.  More information to come.  Save the date!

Discussions

The Hope Street Parking Lot Development—Christine Madore, Mass Housing Partnership

Christine’s attached presentation puts forward the steps that the city and community will be taking to develop the Hope Street lot into housing.  She does it far better than any notes that I would take can do.  So please take a look at it.  We are looking at a 2-3 year process before a shovel digs into the ground.  So, we are in for many discussions about this.  For additional information, Christine suggested reviewing the state’s Chapter 30B manual https://www.mass.gov/doc/the-chapter-30b-manual-procuring-supplies-services-and-real-property-legal-requirements-recommended-practices-and-sources-of-assistance-9th-edition/download 

I received a couple of questions via email prior to the meeting.  Those are included in Christine’s presentation.  We also had some questions in our discussion and I will try to outline them below.

One key issue to be aware of is that a declaration of surplus property will require a 2/3 vote of the City Council.  We are likely to have some work to do when we get to that point.

To keep in mind: right now zoning for the Hope Street lot is that the parcel is zoned for 24 units in any one building.  So, if the community and the city administration agrees that we want more than 24 apartments on that site, how we do that will be an important part of the discussion.  The more buildings the greater the cost of the development.  If we all agree on a number of units above 24 and decide to do it with one building, we will need to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals to ask for a variance.

We know that there is a great need for accessible housing in town.  If we directly ask for universal design in our request for proposals, we may find that the price of development goes up significantly.  Christine suggested language like “age friendly development” as a way to approach that issue.  We could, however, offer extra points for universal design as the designs are scored.

As she spoke, Christine stated that the more specific our requests are, the more likely that we will have fewer bids and that those bids may be very expensive.  So, we are involved in a balancing act here.

There is a lot of emphasis on environmentally friendly and sustainable design in the Housing Bond Bill.  We should keep that in mind as we consider this development.  It will both be more sustainable financially in the long run and will make the applications to the state for funding for this project more attractive.

In the Housing Bond Bill there is a discussion of and funding for social housing. This housing involves public or non-profit partial ownership of a development.  While it is an interesting model, we may find it more difficult to get a developer interested in such a project.  It also adds liability to the city if it is partially publicly owned.  Considering how difficult it has been to find developers to build in Greenfield, we need to carefully consider whether this is a direction that is right for us at this time.

One of the questions that was sent to me was about the possibility of having a playground or some other kind of park that would be open to the neighborhood at large as part of the project.  This creates questions for private developers.  Again, this could be a place where we award more points and offer a very specific agreement about care and liability within the contract of a developer.

We would also need to make sure that whatever income restrictions are part of the plan are put into the agreement with the developer.  If we want them to be “in perpetuity”, then they should at least say 99 years in the agreement.

If there are other questions, please let me know and I will forward them on to Christine.  If you send them to me, then when I get the answer back, I can send them out to everyone after Christine responds.

Homeless Encampments

Amy Clarke spoke about the fact that there has been debris around the Green River Cemetery left by unhoused folks who were living there and then got flooded out during bad rainstorms.  Susan said that she had met that day with Larry Thomas from the Wildflower Alliance who said that there were also several additional sites that needed to be cleaned up.  Amy explained that she, her husband, and Larry had worked out a plan for the Green River Cemetery and that she hoped that the DPW could waive their fees for some of the larger items that would need to be disposed of.  Susan said that she would call the city to see if that could be done.

Shaundell mentioned that this is the kind of thing that the EMERG Coalition would handle if it is fully activated.  She asked that folks contact Community Action Executive Director, Claire Higgins chiggins@communityaction.us to encourage her to allow the CoC to move ahead with the coalition even though the CoC is not fully staffed.

Peg mentioned that the Source to the Sea clean-up will take place on September 28th and we could add the additional sites that Larry mentioned to Susan to that list.  Susan will check with Larry about the addresses of the additional sites and see if he wants to do this. Larry thought that this is an interesting idea but was concerned that since these areas are peoples’ homes, the clean-up crews might be intrusive.  He is going to consider it some more and get back to Susan.

Nan mentioned that now that Maria Burge has been made the police outreach liaison by the city, she might also be able to help with clean-up of some of the sites.

Status of the Days Inn

There is a rumor going around that this winter the Days Inn will end its contract with the state to house migrants there.

Here is the response from Erin Forbush about that issue:

Hello Susan, thank you for checking in with me about the rumor, I have also heard the same rumor.  Our initial contract ends at the end of the year, but we and I believe the hotel have every intention of continuing to operate out of the Days Inn into next year.

If that rumor is true, we will have to consider several things:

• What happens to the 45 migrant families that are presently living there?
• Will the Days Inn then become available for winter housing of unhoused individuals?
• What, if anything, is our role in trying to deal with these issues?

If that rumor is not true, we then have to consider:

• What options do we have for winter housing of unhoused individuals?
• What role do we have in trying to deal with this issue?

Housing Bond Bill

Here’s a synopsis of the 181 page bill….the good, the bad and the we will have

Let’s get the bad out of the way…the following were not included in the bill:
The transfer fee
The rural set aside
The set aside for communities of under 40,000 people
The set aside for seasonal communities
The tenant opportunity to purchase provisions

The wait and see….
Throughout the entire bill there are statements about regional equity, but there is not any definition of what that means.  So we are still going to have to push for our fair share of funding.  But the regional equity statements do give us some leverage.

The good…
There are notations throughout the bill that sustainability, energy efficiency and green technologies are to be used as much as possible.

Without going into the exact amounts of money available for each area (after all this is a 5 year bond bill and when you start getting into the tens of millions and billions, things kind of get lost in translation), the following areas will receive significant funding:

Housing for disabled people including ADUs and improvement of housing for accessibility, both public housing and housing developed by private developers

Supportive housing, like the housing that is part of the Wells Street shelter development

Housing ownership programs for first time homebuyers and communities who have be unable to be part of the housing market due to redlining and discrimination

Housing stabilization and investment for very low income residents including a fund for small property acquisition (Greenfield is not among the communities able to take advantage of this provision)

Renovation, remodeling and reconstruction of public housing

Demonstration projects for public housing including cost effective innovations and replicable solutions involving regional collaborations

Housing innovations for families and individuals who are at or below 30% Area Median Income (AMI)

Housing built by non-profits for individuals and families who are at or under 110% of AMI with not less than 25% of the residents at 60% AMI or less.

Middle income housing through the Massachusetts Housing Finance Administration

Capitalization of surplus property disposition

A large number of local earmarks were part of the bill, for Greenfield and Franklin County there were three:  $500,000 for Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity to build a warehouse for construction materials; $500,000 to the City of Greenfield for affordable senior or mixed use housing; $500,000 to Rural Development Inc for technical assistance

A smart growth housing fund

A fund for the production of for sale below market housing for first time homebuyers and disadvantaged individuals

Grants and Technical Assistance for municipal and regional applicants for planning and locally driven initiatives regarding community development and housing production

A fund for infrastructure development which may be very helpful to the smaller communities in Franklin County and parts of Greenfield which do not have sewer service and where new housing might be built

Assistance to cities and towns for revitalization of blighted neighborhoods and where there are weak housing markets

Low cost capital funding for developments where at least 20% of the units are for people between 60% and 120% of AMI

And two more good things:

The provisions to seal eviction records for evictions over 7 years past and for evictions that were unfounded and reversed by the courts.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are now allowed by right in all single family zoned housing areas in the state

Next meeting:  Monday, September 9th at 6:30 pm on Zoom….please save the date

P.S.

I (Alyssa LaRose) wanted to clarify the zoning discussion around the Hope Street lot below.  The section of the zoning that pertains to Multi-Family development is: ~ 200-7.2. Multifamily dwellings.  Under Section B. (4) is the following language:

More than one (1) building may be placed on one (1) lot, but no structure may contain more than twenty-four (24) dwelling units and no more than six (6) dwelling units shall be served by a single primary entrance. Each structure will be separated by a minimum of forty (40) feet. The Zoning Board of Appeals may allow more than twenty-four (24) dwellings per building in existing structures being converted to multifamily units.

The zoning could be changed (see strikethrough) to allow for more than 24 units per building, regardless if in new construction or an existing building, by Special Permit. Forcing two structures for anything over 24 units makes development less cost effective as each building will need its own duplicate systems – elevator, HVAC, electrical etc. instead of being able to share…

Typically, variances are only given because of a site-specific constraint that otherwise makes the property not developable. I am not sure Hope Street would meet the criteria for a variance.

I provided this suggestion to the consultants working on the Greenfield Housing Study. I am not sure if it made it into the final recommendations, but you could check with them.

Encampment Projects

The Community Education Regarding Encampments…The committee met and determined that this effort should be a more long term one.  We are planning to develop a program which will be offered to existing community organizations as part of their regular programming. Although we are far from being ready, I already have an invitation from the Rotary Club.  We are working with GCTV to develop some video interviews with people living outdoors.  Getting a meeting time has been a complicated process, but we hope to have more information for you in August.

Sanctioned Encampments…Amy Clarke, Shaundell Diaz, and Chuck Green and Mary had a meeting regarding tending a safe, sanitary, stable, legal place to camp.  After some serious discussion, we decided not to continue pursuing it, although Chuck is interested in changing city ordinances to remove the camping ban that currently exists. Amy and I think that would be politically challenging and not necessarily have a positive impact.

Apartment Registration…Because of other pressing issues, this question has not yet been discussed as a general question in City Hall.  The Mayor, Keith Barnicle and I discussed it in our monthly housing meeting on June 13th and I will follow-up in our July meeting.

Short-term Rental Ordinance…At my June meeting with Mayor Desorgher and Keith Barnicle, I mentioned the Buckland ordinance and that Greenfield should consider doing something similar as a proactive measure.  The Mayor now has a copy of the Buckland ordinance.  We will discuss it at our July meeting.  More to come.

Thank you, Susan Worgaftik

 jPresent: Susan Worgaftik, Peg Hall, Mary McClintock, Dorothy McIver, Chuck Green, Edie Heinemann, Pamela Goodwin, Dave Chichester, Stephanie Duclos, Rosa Tobin, Judy Draper, Erin Forbush, Amy Clarke, Emily Greene, Louise Amyot, Nikki Garrett

Updates

Status of 42 Cleveland Street—Alyssa Larose

RDI expects to close on the sale of the property by April 15th. All the funding needed to complete the project is in hand. Asbestos remediation will begin this spring. RDI will be looking for assistance in outreach to the neighborhood as things move forward. Alyssa will be in touch with us about this. Status of Green River School—Susan Worgaftik

We still don’t know a lot yet. Glenn Johnson-Mussad has told us that the superintendent is working on the key paperwork.We may know more in April.

The reorganized leadership group met at the end of February. They are planning a community meeting soon. The owner of the Webb Building is now involved as is Anna Oltman, and Councilors Bullock and Garrett.

Winter 2024-2025 Shelter Planning—Amy Clarke

The Mayor called a meeting of all the service providers providing support services to the unhoused population. Although everyone was not there, the representation was very good and there was a spirit of cooperation in the air. The assessment of the 2023 winter is that there was some difficulty getting the word out about the overflow warming center at the Wells Street shelter and the involvement of the Sheriff’s Office in the effort was not successful. It was agreed that next winter we should move to a different model. There will be no extra room at the temporary shelter at Arch Street next winter. Fire Chief Strahan explained the legal difficulties with providing overnight shelter in city buildings. It was agreed that we need to find some alternative spaces for very cold nights. It was also agreed that the 10 degree above 0 threshold may be too low, especially if wind chill is not considered. There will be further discussion on this. There are some possibilities for future staffing. At the next meeting we hope that things will be moved further along in the planning.

CDBG Hearing—Susan Worgaftik

There was good representation of people concerned about housing at the CDBG hearing.  It was good to know that the city’s plan for these funds that will become available in the fall are for housing rehabilitation assistance, legal aid for homelessness prevention and outreach to unhoused residents of Greenfield For more information, see attachment.

Housing Bond Bill—Susan Worgaftik

The good news is that housing bond bill is out of the Housing Committee and has been moved to the Bonding Committee. The bad news is that there were no amendments to the bill. Those amendments will probably happen in the Ways and Means Committee hearings. We will let people know when those meetings come up so that we can once again write letters to key representatives and senators. Senator Comerford and Reps. Blais and Whipps are on board. The key will be getting to the leadership of the House and the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee. More to come.

Discussions

    Massachusetts Fair Housing Center—Rosa Tobin

         In a whirlwind presentation, Rosa presented the jist of what the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center does.  (For more complete information, see attachments to these notes.)  Mass Fair Housing Center is the oldest such center in the Commonwealth and serves the 4 Western Massachusetts counties and Worcester County.  Its services are focused on housing discrimination providing free legal services, information and advocacy regarding public policy and testing of housing violation.  The key pieces of legislation that in helps enforce are the 1968 Fair Housing Act and a state housing anti-discrimination law which outlaws housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, familial status, children in the household, marital status, age, sexual expression, and status regarding public assistance.  Landlords cannot set special conditions or add additional costs for people they do not want to rent to, eg. Extra cost because children may cause more wear and tear on an apartment.  If you know of someone who might benefit from these services, they can reach Rosa at rtobin@massfairhousing.org or can call their office. (See attachments)  They also will work with folks to do housing counseling and search support for people with vouchers.  They work closely with Community Legal Aid regarding legal assistance for housing on broader issues.

Recognition of Shelter and Outreach Workers—Susan Worgaftik, Erin Forbush

           We established that we want to provide personalized thank you notes and include a gift certificate or gift card.  There are 32 people who would receive these cards…16 from the Wells Street Shelter, 14 from the two family shelters, and 2 from Wildflower Alliance.  Considering our available funds, slightly less than $300, though a couple of people said that they would put some additional money in, we agreed that the key places to ask for gift cards or certificates are the Garden Cinema, Ice Cream Alley or Shelburne Coffee Roasters.  We will also check if the Greenfield Business Association is still using Greenfield Dollars. Once we have figured out what cards we can get, we will have a card writing party.  Susan and Louise are investigating the options.

Housing Registration—Chuck Green

     Chuck presented an analysis of what the options are that are being considered by the committee.  (Please see attachment).  Overall, we are trying to find the best way to gather the address information for all rental units with the least involvement of other individuals or systems, but also figure out how to make that information available and updated as needed.  The subgroup is meeting on March 12th to consider options.

Reports (The following are the same as February.  As there has been no change, they are repeated here for those who missed the February notes.)

       Wells Street—Amy Clarke

            The shelter is full and the 5 additional beds that the shelter will have until the end of March are also occupied.  They are prepared for overflow for when the temperature is 25 degrees or lower.  Because the winter has been warm thus far there have been very few nights when the warming center has been in use.  CSO also has a partnership with Eliot Homeless Services which also provides hotel rooms, if they are needed.

            The Interfaith Council has supported hotel stays primarily in Orange and Athol for a total of 50-60 nights and 6-8 nights at the Red Roof Inn.  They have also purchased supplies for the warming center and a stipend for Larry to do outreach for the warming center.  They have also spent $6-7,000 preventing evictions or providing start-up funds so that people can get housing.

             Family Shelter at the Family Inn and the Days Inn—Erin Forbush

                  The Days Inn shelter has now been in operation for 8-9 months and the families are starting to see themselves as part of the community.  Many are working and 30 of the 45 families now have vehicles.  English classes are continuing with the Center for New Americans.  Mass Hire has been helpful in providing job fairs and working with employers.  There is a regular flow of new migrant families.  Within 24 hours of one family finding housing another arrives.  There are still more than 700 families on the state’s waiting list.

Attachments:

CDBG FY2024 Budget Summary
Housing Justice in Our Communities
Know Your Fair Housing Rights
KYR Disability Discrimination
KYR Housing Subsidy Discrimination
KYR Sex Discrimination
SUN Flyer
Rental Registration