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Date: 1/9/2024
AMHERST — A public, nonprofit affordable housing organization selected the town of Amherst as a recipient of support through the agency’s intensive technical assistance program for local housing trusts.
The Massachusetts Housing Partnership works with the governor and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities in order to increase the inventory of affordable housing in the commonwealth.
Amherst will receive up to eight months of support from MHP’s community assistance staff for the town’s Affordable Housing Trust.
The mission of the trust is to promote the town’s affordable housing priorities to create safe, decent and affordable housing for the community’s most vulnerable populations. Those priorities are determined by Amherst’s current housing plan.
Housing Trust co-chair Carol Lewis thanked MHP for its assistance and, “for its commitment to helping well-established trusts — like Amherst’s — move forward to meet the needs of our community.”
Lewis also noted the importance of the association, “The trust’s mission and the actions that can be taken for increasing affordable housing are very broad so defining where the trust can be most effective in collaboration with the Town Council, the town, community housing advocates and residents is critical,” she said. “That is why this technical assistance from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership is so important to us.”
Trust Co-Chair Erica Piedade agreed, “The trust has actively engaged with the community by sponsoring and participating in listening and educational sessions on affordable housing, including how racial equity and climate change are connected with affordable housing.”
MHP’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund Technical Assistance Program began in 2005 when the state Legislature passed the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Law, simplifying the process of establishing a local housing trust fund. More than 125 communities within the commonwealth have adopted municipal trusts.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said, “The technical assistance grant will support the Trust’s Board of Directors in developing an action plan to identify and prioritize the many needs in our community. Specifically, the technical assistance will support the trust in identifying goals, strategies and necessary procedures to focus the board’s efforts in the coming years.”