An Amherst citizens group has requested town funds to start a land trust in an attempt to tackle the town-wide affordable housing crisis.
The Coalition for Amherst Neighborhoods asked for start-up funds from the Amherst Community Preservation Act Committee in a December 2013 proposal.
The money would be used to create an Amherst Community Land Trust which would work to purchase residential properties and resell them with deed restrictions, ensuring that they cannot be rented to students in order to level out the housing market.
Spearheading the trust is University of Massachusetts professor Maurianne Adams who acknowledged that the land trust won’t solve the problem by itself.
“These problems have many facets and need coordinated efforts on several fronts,” she said.
The town has received other proposals for funding to address housing issues, some of which came after the release of a town-sponsored housing market study done by New Hampshire-based RKG Associates.
Working off of the study, the land trust funding proposal states that the plan is intended to stabilize year-round family neighborhoods, redevelop residential communities which have been threatened by the student housing market and increase housing affordability.
Still in the early planning stage, the proposal will be under review during a public CPAC meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 6 in the community room at the police station.
Amherst has been struggling with a loss of low and middle income housing for years. Profit-seeking landlords, relying on a steady flow of student renters during the academic year, ask for unaffordable rents in a stagnant economy.
“Investors and landlords have driven up housing prices so that they are unaffordable for most families,” Adams said.
Adams and the coalition are primarily focused on serving year-round citizens, but recognized the need for a balanced approach to housing in town that leaves space for families and students.
“Year-round households and families need affordable housing and students need academic-year housing,” she said.
UMass data shows that the University provides housing for approximately 60 percent of its undergraduates, and UMass spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski said in an email that UMass has no plans to build any more on-campus student housing.
According to the RKG housing market study, students from UMass, Amherst College and Hampshire College make up an off-campus housing demand of between 4,000 and 4,500 students.
UMass students make up the majority of that demand, according to the report, and investors are meeting that demand by buying and converting more and more property in town, changing the face of many Amherst neighborhoods.
Amherst Town Planner Jonathan Tucker said approximately one home per month was converted to a rental property in 2012.
The conversion of family homes into multi-unit student rentals has other negative effects on the town and its year-round residents. Many of the student housing properties are not owner occupied, and as a result, have fallen into disrepair or become loud party houses.
The long-term effects of conversions like this create places like Philips Street along the southern periphery of the UMass campus; a place the coalition calls “a long-term student ghetto.”
But not all students move off-campus to party. As students pay higher tuition costs and face unprecedented student loan debt, some make the move to save money.
UMass housing costs between approximately $2,000 and $5,000 depending on the dorm. The mandatory on-campus meal plan adds an additional $2,200 to $2,600. This does not take into account cost of books, transportation and other necessities that must be paid every semester.
In addition to the financial considerations, it’s hard to overlook the fact that Amherst is a college town and has been for years. Living off-campus is for many students an integral part of the college experience.
But students don’t exist in a vacuum. As a huge part of the Amherst community, students have a role to play in the town that welcomes them every semester, and Adams said that all should all share in the responsibilities.
For now, the proposal is just an idea. Adams concluded, “We will not be the solo players trying to solve this issue, but a CLT has a role that other groups (universities, municipalities) will not take on.”
Jason Kotoch can be reached at [email protected].
