According to HUD’s December 2023 Annual Homelessness Report, Massachusetts now has the 10th highest proportion of homeless people in the U.S., and our proportion of homeless families with children puts us at the very top of the list. We reached this crisis because we have a shortage of housing stock, which has led to skyrocketing housing costs.
The construction slowdown that came in the wake of the 2008-09 recession is partially to blame — but so are the zoning laws of a vast number of Massachusetts communities, which restrict all, or most, residential land to single-family housing on lots of a specific size. sometimes as large as two acres.
As the residents of Hatfield observe [“Town focusing on future priorities,” Gazette, Feb. 12], we’ve zoned ourselves into a situation where our own children can’t afford to live nearby, and where essential low-wage workers end up in homeless shelters. To address the immediate homeless crisis, tell your state representative to allocate $120 million for temporary homeless shelters, and tell your U.S. congressional representative to support the Senate’s proposed allocations for the homeless.
To address the shortage of housing stock in the Pioneer Valley, check your town zoning laws to see if they should be updated to allow for more housing stock, and urge your town council 1) to partner with a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, and 2) to create and fund an Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Sharon Farmer is a member of the Northampton Area LWV Homelessness and Affordable Housing subcommittee.