League of Woman Voters of Northampton Area

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR, GAZETTE, OCT. 19, 2023

Many benefits to pairing affordable housing, conservation

Sharon Farmer, member of the Affordable Housing Study committee and the Climate/Energy committee

Kudos to the Kestral Land Trust, the city of Easthampton, Mass Audubon, Community Builders, and the anonymous donor for moving forward with Growing Green: Easthampton, which will convert 53 acres of hayfield, meadow and riparian forest into an 11acre affordable housing project with as many as 90 units and a 42-acre plot of conservation land.

There are just so many social and natural benefits to pairing affordable housing with land conservation. First, many people with low incomes currently reside in urban “heat islands”: areas with too much asphalt and far too few trees. Moving into stable housing that is adjacent towell-conserved meadows and forest will improve the physical and mental health of the residents, thereby lowering medical costs both for the residents and for the insurance companies and publicly funded social service agencies that serve them.

Second, meadows and undisturbed woodland serve as carbon sinks, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and thus helping us to fight climate change. Third, natural meadows and undisturbed woodland help prevent biodiversity loss. The combination of climate change and human impact on the land has caused widespread collapses among mammal populations, bird populations and among the insect populations that both feed our birds and pollinate our food. Preserving land with native wildflower meadows and undisturbed forest will go a long way toward helping to reverse those trends.

And fourth, undisturbed riparian woodland helps preserve the clean water that we all need to survive. Many thanks to all of the agencies and individuals who have made this project possible. And many thanks as well to Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition and the Land Trust Alliance for highlighting the benefits of pairing affordable housing projects with the conservation of our increasingly shrinking natural spaces.

SHARON FARMER

Holyoke

Northampton Area League Annual Meeting June 6, 2023

ANNUAL MEETING

Annual Meeting Minutes

Guest speaker Keith Fairey, CEO of Way Finders, spoke about “Our Housing Crisis and the Way Forward.”  He described the scope of the crisis, which is dire, and described changes needed to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing. 

The affordable housing crisis is severe. The projected need in 2025 in our region = 19,000 additional housing units. The current number of housing units planned = 1,300 units. Only 18 (out of 101) communities in Western Massachusetts now have dedicated affordable housing.

Increasing housing will depend on systemic changes:

  1. Municipal zoning and planning changes, with greater uniformity
  2. Legislation: View League-Supported/Opposed Legislation 2023 – 2024 Scroll to Affordable Housing section to find 7 bills supported by the state League – links to the bills, bill summaries and testimonies.
  3. Increased funding:

             A new commonwealth bond bill is in planning stage

            Increase MA rental voucher program to $3.5billion/year, which is currently underfunded.              

            Increase federal funding, which has declined for the past 40 years

Mr. Fairey’s talk was related to the on-going local study by our local League on homelessness and housing.

A Northampton Area League-sponsored proposal at the state Convention in June 2023 to update the LWVMA affordable housing policy was approved by a near unanimous vote.

Text of adopted policy: A review and update of the LWVMA policy on Affordable Housing/Homelessness.

This review and update was proposed by the LWV of the Northampton Area. The LWVMA has established positions on Affordable Housing, including a section on homelessness (p. 51-53 in Where We Stand), but the included data is based on information from the 1970’s and 1980’s, and has limited information on homelessness specifically.

Information from documents from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the UMass Donahue Institute, and The Center for American Progress, indicates that the supply of affordable housing is shrinking relative to the need, and that the definitions of “market value,” “affordable housing” and “median income” among other terms are not necessarily reflective of current economic situations.

A review and update of LWVMA’s Affordable Housing position would serve to reflect current data and specifically focus on homelessness, better advocate for local and state policies that will address an acknowledged problem in housing, and address the need for representation and resources for the under-housed and unhoused people in our communities.