Housing Greenfield Meeting Notes –February 10, 2025

 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.