Housing Greenfield meeting notes — 08/10/2026

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Lexi Turner, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Mike Mullin, Edie Heinemann,  Kat Miller, Carol Letson, Peg Hall, Ann Dlllemuth, Louise Amyot, Amy Cahillane

DISCUSSIONS:
Abundant Housing Symposium – Mike Mullin
The statewide organization “Abundant Housing” is holding a symposium on Saturday, September 26th designed to answer questions about where the housing situation in Massachusetts is right now and where things appear to be going.  Mike will be attending.  There are still some slots open.  If you are interested in attending  https://www.abundanthousingma.org/housing-abundance-symposium/.  If you decide to go, check in with Mike for possible carpooling. mullin.michael.andrew@gmail.com

State Representative Candidate Forum on Housing – Kat Miller
The candidate forum for state representative will take place Tuesday, August 25th, 6:30-7:30 pm at the Grange, 401 Chapman Street.  The format will include 30 minutes of housing related questions from members of the Greenfield Tenants Union and, possibly, Franklin County Democratic Socialist of America and 30 minutes of questions from the floor which could include housing or other related issues like economic development.  It is still uncertain if it will be live streamed.  If you wish to help with set-up, please come to the Grange as early as 5:30 pm.

 Status of 3 County Continuum of Care – Shaundell Diaz
The CoC has been developing its response to HUD’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) which involved working with a variety of service providers in Franklin, Hampshire and Berkshire Counties to ensure that all the issues concerning unhoused residents of these counties were receiving appropriate responses.  On August 10th at 5:08 pm, HUD announced that a court ruling determined that the NOFO originally announced is illegal and must be withdrawn.

         “The Court found that HUD’S 2026 NOFO was not legally issued under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  Because of that, the entire 2026 NOFO is being set aside—meaning it cannot proceed in its present form.  The Court did not grant the Plaintiffs everything they asked for, including their request for a permanent injunction.  The Court also did not decide the other legal arguments raised by either side because the procedural problem with the NOFO was enough to resolve the case for now.  Bottom line:  HUD’s 2026 CoC NOFO has been invalidated/set aside because the Court found the process used to issue it was legally defective.  This does not necessarily mean the underlying CoC funding itself is permanently cancelled; it means HUD cannot proceed with this NOFO as it was issued.  The key phrase is ‘sets aside HUD’s issuance of the 2026 NOFO in its entirety’.  That is the part that has the biggest practical impact on the CoC competition.”

       “Due to the Court’s order, the 2026 CoC NOFO and its August 26,2026, application submission deadline are no longer in force as HUD is unable to accept applications at this time.”
This leaves the 3 County CoC in a kind of limbo until HUD announces its next steps.  The CoC’s present general funding goes through August 1, 2027.
In the meantime, the 3 County CoC is applying for a youth homelessness grant which would expand the present successful project in Franklin County to Hampshire and Berkshire Counties as well.

Hope Street Project – Amy Cahillane
Feedback on the Request for Proposals (RFP) for Hope Street has been completed.  That information and the information received through community outreach will be used to make the final version of the RFP which will go out to potential developers and on the city website on September 8th.  Developers will have an opportunity to ask questions at a site visit session which will take place after the RFP has gone out.  Applications will be due in November.
Community meetings discussing the content of the RFP will occur later in September.

Warming Center for Winter 2026-2027 – Amy Cahillane
Conversations are now taking place with CSO and City Departments about capacity and how to apply for the state’s emergency funding.  Last year there was a regional application that went through Community Action.  We are not sure about whether CSO will want to apply separately now that the new building is completed.  Amy will keep us posted.

DISCUSSION:
Planning for Housing Greenfield’s Future – Lexi Turner
There was a redraft of our mission statement, which was available at the potluck, but as the potluck was a party and not a meeting, we will be sending it out again for comment.  It will be part of the survey that we will be sending out to everyone shortly.  The survey will cover what you think are the most important part of the work that we do and how we develop a sustainable structure as we move forward.  The survey will be going out in mid-August.  Please respond to it as quickly as possible so it can be part of the discussion for our September 14h meeting.

NEW INFORMATION:
Opening of the new 60 Wells Street Shelter and Supportive Housing – Louise Amyot
The new shelter and supportive housing held an open house on July 29th.  Residents will move in late in August.  Both Congressman Jim McGovern and Mayor Ginny Desorgher spoke in welcome for the new facility.

• On the ground floor are a 16-bed shelter area for women including a spacious bathroom with showers and a private changing area.
• There is also a laundry area in this space.  There is also a 26-bed shelter are for men including similar accommodations as on the women’s side.
• There is a spacious commercial kitchen and a dining room.
• Offices for the nurse, clinical and administrative staff are also included in this area.
• There are 36 apartments, including 7 that are fully accessible.  All the apartments are “visitable”.  A person in a wheelchair could come to any of the visitable apartments (there is an elevator) and the bathrooms in all apartments can accommodate a wheelchair.  All the doors are wide enough for a wheelchair to go through.  There is a large window in each apartment and a well appointed galley kitchen.  There is a community laundry area as well.
• There is also an outside patio area which has benches and plantings and is private for use by the residents of the apartments and the shelter.

            This is designed as a place to stabilize lives, not warehouse people.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Rules regarding the Community Reinvestment Act –Susan Worgaftik
The latest set of rules regarding housing that the Trump Administration is planning to change involve the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  This act was passed during the 1990’s when there were a lot of bank mergers happening.  It was an effort to ensure that the local support for communities including affordable housing and small business development would not be lost as smaller banks became part of larger banks.  In terms of affordable housing, the CRA is responsible for 85% of the Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that are essential to building housing like the Wells Street Shelter, the Wilson’s complex and the 170 Main Street complex.  They allow banks to facilitate the buying of these credits which they then sell to individuals or corporations who use them to lower their federal tax obligations.
The new rule, which we have not yet seen, is likely to do two things:

1.      Increase the amount of assets a bank must have to be exempt from this requirement.  This will allow smaller local banks to avoid compliance and has the potential to limit the amount of LIHTC credits available.

2.     Change what LIHTC credits can/must be used for and could change the definition of eligible projects to include things like oil pipelines.

We do not yet know what the rule will look like and how long the comment period will be.  CHAPA is on top of this issue and as soon as we have more information, we will let you know.  We will need letters to go out to the FDIC.  Stay tuned.

            CHAPA 2026 Annual Regional Meeting for the Franklin/Hampden/Hampshire Counties Region—Susan Worgaftik

            CHAPA has invited Housing Greenfield to be a sponsoring organization for their annual regional meeting that will occur between October 13th and October 30th virtually.  The responsibilities for this effort include:

•             Attend one prep meeting with other co-sponsors
•             Help promote the meeting through our mailing lists and other contacts
•             Send at least one member to the meeting to represent Housing Greenfield
•             Assist with facilitating a small group conversation during the meeting

Susan and Lexi are willing to work on this and will keep you all posted about the meeting as things develop.

Next meeting:  Monday, September 14th 6:30 pm via zoom