On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Amherst College Democrats hosted a youth listening session with town council and school committee candidates on the Amherst Town Common ahead of the November elections.

The event encouraged local youth and university students to meet and ask candidates questions. The event coordinator, Caroline Flinn, a sophomore at Amherst College and a Co-President of Amherst College Democrats, said the goal was to get students “out of their bubble” and engaged with the Amherst community.

“These policies might affect me,” Flinn said. “They might affect every student, and I should care about the people that I’m sharing a town with,”

Candidates for the school committee and town council split into two groups where they answered questions from participants and Flinn, who facilitated the council’s discussion. Julian Hynes, a sophomore arboriculture and community forest management major at the University of Massachusetts, moderated the school committee’s conversation.

Housing development, working partnerships with the university, ethical divestment and alternative policing were major themes of the town council candidates’ discussion.

Many candidates expressed that they wanted to see UMass coordinate with the town to find solutions to address Amherst’s housing crisis.

Incumbent Ellisha Walker (at-large), addressed the importance of balancing the needs of the university and the needs of the town. She said she wants to encourage UMass to build more on-campus student housing.

Although 44% of UMass students live on-campus, over 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students lived locally in Amherst during the 2024-2025 academic year, according to a June 2025 draft of Amherst’s Housing Production Plan.

A larger stock of on-campus housing for undergraduate and graduate students could help

mitigate some of the challenges created in part by the high demand for local off-campus housing.

The HPP draft explains, “This demand inflates housing prices and reduces availability for both student and non-student renters, such as young professionals, families, and low-income residents.”

Vincent O’Connor, running in District One, also voiced concerns regarding the trend of Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) purchasing single-family homes in Amherst and turning them into student rental properties by “charging per bedroom or per occupant, which typically raises rents beyond what families and non-student households can afford,” according to the HPP.

O’Connor said the rising rents and homeownership costs have led to families being priced out of homebuying in Amherst, driving down the number of families moving to and staying in the area.

“We have to be tougher negotiators with the university,” O’Connor said.

Walker and Amber Cano-Martin, running in District Two, both commented on the importance of ensuring the town can offer affordable starter homes for families.

At-large candidate Andrew Churchill proposed that UMass donate buildable land for development to create taxable student housing, lessening the pressure on neighborhoods.

“Development needs to be linked with the revenue picture and the supply of housing,” he said.

Jill Brevik, running in District One, and at-large candidate Allegra Clark expressed fears for overdevelopment in Amherst.

“I went to high school here and it definitely looks a lot different than it did back then,” Clark said. “I would like to see development balance a thriving small business atmosphere with affordable housing.”

Two students from Amherst College raised the question of divestment, referencing the college’s Board of Trustees’ decision to not pursue divestment “from companies supplying military equipment used by the State of Israel in the current campaign in Gaza.”

Walker said that there are “limitations” in regards to what the council can do regarding divestment, but assured that even “symbolic” actions “hold weight,” referencing the March 2024 resolution passed by the council calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The current councilor called passing the resolution an “uphill battle,” while Brevik, a supporter of the ceasefire resolution, claimed the process was “uglier than it needed to be,” offering support in favor of a swift issuing of a divestment resolution.

Brevik said there needs to be “more councilors in power who are not going to put up a fight for something like this and just say it’s the least we can do.”

Alternative policing was also addressed by candidates. Amherst’s Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service (CRESS) began operations in 2022. It is “an unarmed public safety department that supports the Amherst community, rooted in trauma-informed and anti-racist frameworks,” according to their mission statement.

Walker, co-chair of the Community Safety Working Group (CSWG) that recommended the town develop CRESS, addressed how the department has been met with budget cuts, position freezes and political pushback.

O’Connor expressed support for the program, saying that similar alternative policing departments in other towns are given the space to do more than what CRESS is being allowed to do in the community.

“Looking at councilors’ voting records is very important. Looking at what people are doing in their lives that would lend itself to supporting programs like these,” Brevik said in regard to CRESS.

According to Amherst’s election webpage, residents can register to vote until Friday Oct. 24 by 5 p.m. in person or midnight online and can apply for mail-in ballots until Tuesday, Oct. 28 by 5 p.m. in the lead up to election day Tuesday, Nov. 4

Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected].