Towns in Franklin County have signaled their support for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) to apply for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) grant for assistance in addressing affordable housing.

In Franklin County, Wendell, Charlemont, Montague, Hawley, Gill and Ashfield have all signed on to the Letter of Support created by FRCOG and its partner, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC). If awarded, the grant would allow municipalities in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties to “advance housing that is affordable” according to the letter. The towns of Leverett and Conway had the letter as part of recent Selectboard agenda items.

The PVPC website hosts information about the grant, including a presentation from Sept. 26 explaining the application process. This year, HUD will select 30 applicants across the U.S. with $100 million available to be dispersed. The maximum grant amount for this round is $7 million and a minimum of $1 million. 

The presentation explains, “Our proposal will advance housing development in the 69 cities and towns in the geographic region of western Massachusetts known as Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.” This equates to 694,593 people between the three counties, and 40% of which is “housing cost burdened,” meaning that more than 30% of their income goes to housing.

Impact in Franklin County

Housing and Livability Program Manager Megan Rhodes explained the grant comes at a convenient time. FRCOG completed its 2024 Regional Housing Plan for Franklin County, providing an in-depth and comprehensive view on the issue of housing.

“We’re hoping, if we get the funding, to be able to provide technical assistance to the towns, to help them amend their zoning if needed, and for those that are willing to change their zoning, we’re hoping to start tackling on some of the bigger issues such as our Title 5 septic regulations, which is a real barrier to housing in Franklin County,” Rhodes said about the plans for the grant.

According to the FRCOG housing plan, several barriers to housing exist in Franklin County. Affordability, housing stock, zoning laws, population changes and other factors contribute to housing issues within Franklin County, with the plan stating that it lacks 3,020 affordable housing units, impacting people across several low and middle income ranges. Additionally, the homeowner vacancy rate is 0.1%, and rental vacancy at 0%, which the plan states underscores the “intense demand for new housing.”

The draft grant application from FRCOG on the PVPC website is broken down into multiple sections. In response to the prompt about planned activities for the grant, FRCOG states that it intends to update two municipal Housing Production Plans (HPPs), implement the 2024 Regional Housing Production Plan and work with member towns to update septic regulations that act as a barrier to housing production.

Montague is one of the towns that will seek to update its housing production plan with help from this grant if awarded. Town Planner Maureen Pollock brought forward a draft Letter Of Support to the Selectboard on Sept. 23 with information on how this grant would allow the town to update its HPP.

“Updating this plan will help our community better understand local housing needs and demand, development constraints and opportunities, and vision for future affordable housing and market-rate housing in our community,” the letter reads. The Selectboard unanimously supported the motion for Chair Richard Kuklewicz to sign the letter on behalf of the town.

Susan Worgaftik, coordinator at Housing Greenfield, said that the grant is important for FRCOG to address housing issues facing residents. She explained out of the 3,020 missing affordable housing units in the county, Greenfield needs 400 to 800 of those to assist the population in finding rental housing or becoming homeowners. Worgaftik noted that a healthy vacancy rate is between 5% and 8%.

“[There’s] not enough housing, and we can’t maintain ourselves if we can’t providing housing for people who presently live here,” Worgaftik said.

In an email, Executive Director of the Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority (FCRHRA) Gina Govoni reiterates much of what Worgaftik said about housing access, adding there is an issue of housing maintenance of what exists presently.

“We also need to attract more people in the construction trades to support the preservation of existing homes,” Govoni states. “This study notes that 84% of the housing was built before the ban on lead paint, which shows the age of our housing. The current housing stock is simply not suitable to most of the people seeking housing- whether they are families with young children or single individuals seeking accessible, single-floor living.”

To address these housing issues, FRCOG offered several recommendations in the plan that Rhodes said that this grant can help fund. Updating zoning regulations and land use policies, addressing deteriorating housing and maintenance of existing housing are parts of the grant coverage that FRCOG recommends.

“We’re hoping to get that grant,” Rhodes said. “It’s a really once in a decade opportunity for funding.”

In the last round of PRO Housing grants for FY2023, 21 grantees across the United States were selected with $85 million dollars available. $3 million of this grant pool went to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) that covers housing in Greater Boston. According to the profile created by HUD on this MAPC grant, permitting processes and high construction and development costs were identified by MAPC as issues the grant could help remediate.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.