Amherst Community Land Trust and Survival Center Appeal Unsuccessfully for Larger CDBG Grants

Report on the Meeting of the Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee, March 13,2025

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Becky Michaels (Chair), Zoy Soulis, Andrew Hart, Suzanne Schilling, and Nat Larson. Staff: Walker Powell (Planner)

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Advisory Committee held a public hearing on March 13,  to receive input on its recommended allocation of $170,000 in social service grants and $552,000 for non-social service proposals. Descriptions of each of the proposals can be found on the CDBG web page. 

More Support Urged for Amherst Community Land Trust Proposal
Representatives and supporters of the social service organizations spoke to thank the committee for its support and emphasize the increasing need for food, housing, and mentoring. However, several speakers pushed for more support for the Amherst Community Land Trust (ACLT) proposal to create five units for homeownership opportunities for people earning 80% or less of area mean income at 174 Amity Street.  The owners of the property have offered to sell the property, which now contains a two-family rental house, to ACLT at half of its assessed value, and ACLT is exploring partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build several new units. ACLT requested $525,000 for the cost of the property acquisition and pre-development work. The committee awarded only $65,000, earmarked for the pre-development work.

In public comment, Cathy Schoen spoke in favor of the project that, she said, would produce homes for up to five low-income families in a part of town that is walkable. She suggested moving money allocated to infrastructure improvements at Kendrick Park to the ACLT project and reducing the amount for the VFW Housing Resource Center pre-development. Schoen maintained that further development of Kendrick Park was not a necessity, since there are already good crosswalks and sidewalks that have been created recently, and that the VFW project is several years from developing a schematic design and has already received pre-development funds from the town. However, Planner Walker Powell stated that the town is developing a Request for Proposals for the VFW project, so there may be a developer selected in the near future.

CDBG Committee members expressed worries about the viability of the ACLT project and of the difficulty of using CDBG funds for construction because of extra requirements. ACLT President Linda Slakey stated a group of capable volunteers have been working with town staff on the plans for the property, but these cannot be implemented until enough money is raised to purchase the property. She said that ACLT was not planning to use the CDBG money for construction, but for pre-development and acquisition. The total project will probably take three years, but work can be done at renovating the existing house into two or three units as soon as the property is purchased.

Janet Keller also spoke in support of the project. She said her involvement with ACLT over its 10-year history has shown how much the homeownership that ACLT is able to provide means to families. She is excited about this in-town possibility.

Committee members spoke positively regarding the ACLT project, but were unwilling to devote more money to it. Senior Planner Nate Malloy said that the state would most likely deny the allocation if ACLT could not prove that it had the full acquisition amount in its possession. Slakey was confident that the group could obtain the full amount by the time the money was awarded in October, but Powell said the application report was due to the state on April 14. The committee encouraged ACLT to apply the following year, but Slakey pointed out that that would delay the project and that the availability of funds would be uncertain due to changes at the federal level.

The committee unanimously approved its previous recommendations, which will be sent to the state for approval.

Social Service Agencies Grateful for Support
Representatives of the social service agencies who received allocations from the CDBG committee emphasized the increasing need for support with the changing political situation. Amherst Survival Center (ASC) Executive Director Lev Ben Ezra said that the ASC serves more than 4,000 Amherst residents with food insecurity. She noted that a reduction in federal funds will reduce the ability of the center to purchase local produce and dairy products and that further cuts will impact the amount of food the center receives from the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. She asked the committee to fund the full $82,250 requested by the ASC. The committee received 43 letters in support of the ASC proposal.

Laura Reichsman of Family Outreach of Amherst stated that retaining housing is the only way low-income families can stay in Amherst and that she has never seen a time like this where it is sometimes impossible to find shelter for needy families. “People who never thought they would be poor are losing their jobs,” she said.

Rosanna Salazar of the Amherst Mobile Market, which was started during the pandemic, noted that the market supports local farms and puts on events that promote community in addition to providing free food distribution every week. Susan Nicastro of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County said the group is celebrating its 50th year and has a waiting list of children wanting mentors that continues to grow. Laurie Millman of the Center for New Americans cited the increasing number of immigrants coming to Amherst. She said that although the children are in school, the adults need language skills and help to attain self-sufficiency.