Williamstown Housing Trust Agrees to Continue Emergency Mortgage, Rental Programs
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust at its December meeting voted to extend its mortgage and rental assistance programs and discussed bringing in some consultants early next year before embarking on any new programs.
Chair Daniel Gura informed the board that its agreements with Pittsfield's Hearthway Inc., to administer the Williamstown Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Williamstown Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program was expiring at the end of the year.
Gura sought and obtained a vote of the board to extend the programs, born during the COVID-19 pandemic, through the end of January 2026, at which time the board plans to sign a new long-term agreement.
"In 2024, we distributed $80,000," through the programs known as WERAP and WEMAP, Gura said. "This year, to date, we gave $16,000, and Ihere's $17,000 left. … It's a little interesting we saw a dropoff from 2024 to 2025, although I think there were obvious reasons for that in terms of where we are in the world."
Gura suggested that the board might want to increase the funding to the programs, which benefit income-qualified town residents.
"If you look at the broader economic picture in this country, there's a prospect of more people needing help, not fewer people," Thomas Sheldon said in agreeing with Gura. "I think the need will bump up again."
The board voted to add an additional $13,000 to the amount available to applicants screened by Hearthway with the possibility of raising that funding if a spike in demand is seen.
As it met on Dec. 17, the AHT Board had about $167,000 in available funds, after subtracting funds it previously committed but had not yet transferred to Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity to support a four-home subdivision the non-profit is building off Summer Street.
That figure includes a $64,000 allocation of Community Preservation Act funds approved by town meeting in May that was deposited into the Trust's coffers in November, according to a report that board Treasurer Ruth Harrison delivered last week.
Next month, Gura will be back before the Community Preservation Committee to present the Affordable Housing Trust's request for $170,000 in CPA funds in the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2026.
In November, the members of the Community Preservation Committee learned that they expect to have up to $624,000 in grants to recommend to the May 2026 annual town meeting. Of that $624,000, 10 percent needs to be directed toward community housing, one of three preferred categories of CPA funding under its enabling legislation.
"Barring a mistake in the application, we're guaranteed around $60,000," Gura said, a joking reference to last year, when his submission of the Affordable Housing Trust application missed the CPC's deadline.
Gura, who attended a pre-qualification meeting that the CPC made mandatory this year for all applicants, reported that the Community Preservation Committee is anticipating requests for grants in excess of the $624,000 figure.
The board agreed to designate Gura, Sheldon and Harrison to finalize the panel's application, which is due on Jan. 9. Gura said he hoped to have it completed by Dec. 26.
Looking ahead, the AHT Board this month talked about potential projects to explore in 2026, including a potential home repair project or exploring a land trust – both ideas that the board has touched on in the past.
Gura said he would get in touch with a consultant to talk about the land trust idea; Sheldon volunteered to invite a representative from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership to talk about critical repair programs.
But he also offered a caveat in the form of a past written communication from an MHP official that he read aloud to his colleagues.
" 'The issue with home repair programs is that the Trust statute said the purpose of the Trust is to create and preserve affordable housing for low and moderate income,' " Sheldon read from the letter. " ' It's not just the people being income-qualified, but it's creating or preserving affordable housing. Most home repair programs support market-rate homes with no affordability restriction.' "
Sheldon said that the letter explains that some municipal repair programs have been created with short-term deed restrictions for affordability, but the limited window of affordability – as opposed to permanent deed restrictions on residence like those built, for example, but Habitat for Humanity or the apartments at Cable Mills – are not in the spirit of the statute.
" 'None of this is to say rehab programs are not important,' " Sheldon read. " 'It's just to say that these two tools, Trust and CPA, were not intended for this kind of use."
Gura, whose day job is with Habitat for Humanity, said the global nonprofit does repair projects on homes with permanent deed restrictions attached "all the time," but he noted that those restrictions can bring complications.
"How much are you able to clearly communicate to them what this means, and how much does it end up creating conflict down the road," Gura said. "Assume you're doing it for an elderly person, they pass away, their son or daughter tries to sell the house, and they're like, 'What? My father or mother would never have agreed to that.'
"When someone needs a roof, they're likely to agree to anything."
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