Housing Greenfield Meeting Notes – 04/13/2026

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