Adams Select Board Gives Louison House $2,000 in Community Development Funds
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen has voted to appropriate $2,000 in funds from community development to emergency shelter program Louison House.
The town will be using money from the program income line item of the community development budget to pay for the appropriation. This funding comes after Louison House received $135,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the state, North Adams and Williamstown last month.
Kathy Keeser, the executive director at Louison House, said this money would help the program come close to breaking even with its budget.
"Some smaller amount would put us there, right at the ceiling," she said.
Louison House is currently housing 21 people in Adams at Mount Royal Inn, according to Keeser. She said she knows of four people staying at the inn via Louison House from Adams, with 10 Adams residents total coming through the program during the winter.
"We had those beds filled by Dec. 25. We started officially on Dec. 1. And we've continued to keep those filled," she said.
When asked why Louison House had not requested funding from Adams at the same time as North Adams and Williamstown, Keeser said she had reached out to Selectwoman Christine Hoyt in November. The process, according to Hoyt, was slowed because of delays with Mount Royal Inn's licensing paperwork.
"We, at that time, had applications out for licensing purposes. And the property that was going to be used was one that had been delinquent with their license renewal in 2020, in 2021, and here we were again," Hoyt said.
Keeser said she appreciates the help Adams provides to Lousion House beyond the monetary donation. The board noted, as the host community for Mount Royal Inn, Adams has provided services for Louison House's residents in the past.
"There are other ways to contribute," she said. "Everything isn't about dollars."
Housing, according to Keeser, is becoming an increasingly problematic issue in Berkshire County for several reasons. Among those reasons, she said, are a lack of rental property, a lack of housing options, an increase in the number of young people with no rental history and winter-related issues such as frozen and burst pipes.
"It isn't just local. This is a very regional and statewide conversation that's going on continually, as I called in today about," Keeser said. "Affordable housing and where we're going to get it, how we're going to get more permanent housing for folks at a level that they can afford. Where, how."
Keeser said another significant issue is the wave of evictions that have followed the pandemic in the last several months.
"It's a tough world out there," she said. "And that's what's making it worse these last few years, along with the evictions were held off for a long time, which that was good. But it also meant that when it did start happening, it started happening pretty quickly."
In other business, the board ratified the appointment of Justin Cote as a technical clerk and operator at the town's wastewater treatment plant.
Tags: louison house,
