Housing Greenfield Meeting notes — 10/19/2026

Present: Susan Worgaftik, Lexi Turner, Wisty Rorabacher, Judy Draper, Mike Mullin,  Peg Hall,  Amy Cahillane, Nancy Hazard, Kat Miller, Shaundell Diaz, Mike Penn-Strah, Alyssa Larose

UPDATES:

Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities One Stop Grants — Alyssa Larose, Amy Cahillane of Rural  Development, Inc.   Alyssa reported that RDI received readiness funding for site preparation for 176 Main Street.  This includes building demolition and it closes their funding gap. RDI will still be seeking funding for one last grant from Mass Development for analysis of possible brownfield contamination.  Mass Development is aware of this need and RDI expects that this grant will come through after they take possession of the property which should take place early in 2027.

Other One Stop Grants to Greenfield — Amy went on to report that the Community Builders and Franklin County Coop received grants to fill in their final funding gap for the development of the Wilson’s building, now known as The Putnam.
The City of Greenfield received funding for:

• Water and sewer infrastructure upgrades at Country Estates, a 65-unit, low-income manufactured home community.
• Design, fabrication, and installation of downtown way-finding signage, focused on parking (including a large-scale mural on the side of our municipal parking garage).
• A comprehensive update to the Economic Development chapter of the City’s Sustainable Greenfield Master Plan, in partnership with UMass Amherst’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.
• Refundable tax credits to help fill vacant commercial spaces.

Rental Registry and Inspection Ordinance — Susan Worgaftik reminded everyone that the ordinance will be coming up for a vote at the City Council meeting on October 21st at the John Zon Community Center. It would be very helpful if folks could attend and speak to the importance of this ordinance at the. The key points for the ordinance are attached.  If you are unable to attend, please send a support letter to: citycouncil@greenfield-ma.gov

Hope Street Project — Amy Cahillane reported that public community meetings to discuss the RFP were held on October 5th and October 5th and 7th.  The people who attended asked good questions. An open meeting for potential developers was also held and two developers, Oxbow Design Build and Penrose, attended. Responses to the RFP are expected December 14th at 2 pm.

Kat Miller’s Eviction Case — Kat Miller explained that she won in court because the landlord had stated that she should be paying for utilities.  This was denied by the judge because he had no paperwork stating that she was responsible for the utilities. This settles things for at least 6 months.  Kat will let us know if anything further develops.

October 22nd CHAPA forum — Susan Worgafti reported that the October 22nd forum is at 1 pm.  It will include breakout groups discussing what attendees (over 100) believe are the major issues facing their communities.  After that, there will be discussions on particular topics.  It will end at 2:30 pm.  This forum helps CHAPA determine what its legislative priorities will be for the coming year.

Parking Mandate Reform — Mike Mullin said that hehas been working with the Planning Board and the City Council Economic Development Committee to consider the elimination of all parking requirements throughout the city.  There appears to be strong interest.  Mike will keep us informed of next steps.

DISCUSSIONS:

Abundant Housing Massachusetts Symposium — Mike Mullin attended this symposium and found one particular presentation very compelling.  The presentation concentrated on including storytelling as an important part of engaging and recruiting people to working on issues.  He suggested that we might want to get a banner and have an event at the library where we ask folks to tell their stories regarding housing and ask whether they might be shared more publicly.  More on this may come.

Status of Unhoused Population in Greenfield — Amy Cahillane, Shaundell Diaz and Susan Worgaftik reported that the city has applied to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for funding for the warming center for this winter.  They will know if they have received funding and if so, how much at the end of October.  There also may be some funding for CSO to add additional beds at the shelter.  Stay tuned for more information.

The Medical Reserve Corps has been meeting and is doing research on being able to be of assistance in fall 2027.  Pamela Goodwin will keep us informed of progress in this area.

Shaundell reported that the Continuum of Care will soon have the summer point in time count which may give us a somewhat better understanding of the size of the unhoused population. You can find more information here.  If you have questions about this, you can reach Emma Coles at ecoles@communityaction.us.  And you can reach Shaundell at 413-297-9975

The CoC submitted its application to HUD [and dis re question]. . . $5.4 million for 23 projects including transitional housing and supportive services.   Due to strategic planning and a great deal of work, the CoC catchment area will not lose any supportive housing units because of the HUD cuts.  There will not be any funding for additional units, however.

The CoC annual meeting will be December 17th 10am-noon via zoom.  More information to come.

There are some new people in some of the encampments in Greenfield, particularly in the one at Green River.  Larry Thomas and Chris “Mountain Man” are working with the community there to ensure that this is a positive community.  We will learn more about what is happening there when Mountain Man attends our meeting in November.

A free fridge will soon be installed outside near the side door of the Salvation Army.  Sara Brown will bring us more information at the November meeting. Lockers near the fridge will be installed soon.  Coordination between the DPW and the Salvation Army are in process to schedule that.

Affordable Housing Trust — Amy Cahillane

An Affordable Housing Trust is a mechanism that many communities use to allow funds to go directly to the development, acquisition or repair of housing so that it is affordable and remains so.  This has been discussed in Greenfield for several years, but there has been little movement over the last year.  A draft of the ordinance is available at here.  More information on this to come.  If you have comments or questions please ready them for our meeting in November.

INVITATION:

Nancy Hazard, Edie Heinemann and Peg Hall were given a tour of the 60 Wells shelter and housing recently.  Keleigh BenEzra said that she could do one more for a small group, but it should happen soon.  If you are interested, contact Nancy Hazard at nancyhazard30@gmail.com

Next meeting:  Monday, November 9th 6:30 pm via zoom