Northampton should be a place where anyone can build a life for themselves and comfortably stay.

As City Councilor, I have always voted to support development of affordable housing, including the Lumberyard and Live 155 downtown residences, and others. I helped shape and enact zoning reforms that will encourage additional affordable units and housing for all.

In addition to being an advocate for affordable housing and the creation of more accessible units, I have always championed the rights of renters in the city. I wrote the City Council resolution calling on the state to enact legislation securing the right to counsel for tenants in eviction proceedings. All too often in public conversations, I have heard renters dismissed as less important stakeholders. I don’t believe that, and it is not reflective of the kind of community I want to live in or represent.

Housing in Northampton is not affordable for many people who work here or want to move here, and there is a good deal of financial pressure on people currently living in Northampton on fixed or lower incomes. Solutions to this are not easy. My goal is to strike the right balance, so Northampton is an attractive and accessible city for people at all income levels and nobody feels squeezed out. A sense of place and one’s identity with home is deeply personal and can be emotional. Creating more housing and development can be challenging, but I am hopeful that we can work together to allow space for others.

One of the accomplishments that I’m proud of from my time on the City Council is zoning reform. We made long-needed changes, moving away from exclusionary zoning that only allows a single-family home on a lot, to allow for more attainable two-family homes by right. Previously, two-family homes by right were only allowed in the more central districts. This change gives property owners throughout the city flexibility on how to use their land, potentially increasing desperately needed housing stock and helping people age in place by creating rental income. 

The City Council also recently voted to simplify the process for smaller affordable housing projects which will hopefully incentivize the creation of individual units. At the same time, the City Council approved an ordinance to encourage the construction of smaller, “half-scale” units with non-fossil fuel heating systems. Additionally, fossil-fuel free requirements were written into zoning changes to help achieve carbon-neutrality goals.

I am currently working with the Housing Partnership on a home rule petition to submit to the state Legislature, which would allow the city to be involved in shifting broker fees away from renters and onto the landlords for whom the brokers are primarily working. Paying a broker’s fee--which is usually at least a half month’s rent, in addition to first and last month’s rent--is a significant hurdle to accessing a home.