Hope for More Affordable Housing Options Is Growing in Greenfield
The Hope Street parking lot in downtown Greenfield, Massachusetts, looks like any lot in your average American downtown: a slab of asphalt that can hold several dozen cars. But when Mayor Desorgher saw the lot after two years of it being used to hold a temporary fire station, she saw something else: the potential site of future housing. Under her leadership, the acre-sized lot — which is within walking distance of the train station and other downtown amenities — has been closed to parking and designated for housing development.
The county seat and sole city of Franklin County, Greenfield is a post-industrial city with a population of 18,000. Culturally, it's a unique combination of both agricultural and urban, and it faces a housing shortage familiar to hundreds of cities across the U.S. According to a recent study by Community Scale, the town needs 600 more units over the next decade to keep up with projected growth.
Community Scale Principal Jeff Sauser explained that it’s difficult to attract developers for various reasons, among them higher-than-average poverty rates relative to the rest of the state, an issue rooted partly in post-industrial decline and the opioid crisis. Countywide, median monthly mortgage payments sit at $3,400, double the $1,750 that’s considered affordable relative to local wages. This economic reality makes it hard for builders to justify bringing projects to town, knowing their costs will remain the same but that they could secure higher rents and purchasing power in neighboring cities.
City leaders have responded by embracing several reforms to make home-building easier. Building on a history of progressive zoning, they’ve recently passed two ordinances, one that allows accessory dwelling units by right in residential areas and another that lifted a 24-unit cap on residential development in areas like downtown. They also have plans to review parking rules with an eye to future reforms.
These zoning reforms are already showing results, due largely to successful collaborations between the city, local land owners and nonprofit housing developers. For example, at 176 Main Street, local nonprofit housing developer Rural Development, Inc. plans to replace a collection of one-story commercial buildings with a four-story, 24-unit building. The developer also plans to build an additional eight townhomes in the back — eight extra units that can exist partly because the city eliminated parking minimums in 2021.
Given the uncertainty in Washington D.C. around funding for affordable housing, these kinds of reforms are increasingly essential for cities that rely to some degree on federal subsidies. To that end, Greenfield is also establishing an affordable housing trust — a locally funded pot of resources to help with rental assistance.
The mayor is hopeful that making it easier to build will lead to the levels of supply that naturally bring prices down. Part of that, she recognizes, requires taking a closer look at the land used for parking. According to a 2023 parking study by engineering consulting team Stantec, downtown Greenfield has a surplus of parking, with only 55% of it occupied at peak time. Data like this makes the closure of the Hope Street lot a no-brainer.
Reclaiming land from parking is extremely unconventional, and Greenfield officials navigated some pushback from locals about the Hope Street lot. In some cases, they responded with creative solutions. For example, they made parking inside the neighboring city-owned garage free from 11-2 p.m. daily to support local businesses that rely on a daytime crowd.
But overall, they are sticking to their guns. In just a few weeks, the city will release a formal request for proposals for developing the Hope Street lot. Whether other lots downtown can be used in a similar way remains to be seen; it will take careful consideration, discussion with property owners and plenty of community engagement. But ultimately, watching what’s possible with this one lot has sparked a new shift in thinking for the mayor. “It’s become the norm,” Mayor Desorgher said. “We’re all looking at our parking lots and realizing they can potentially be used for housing.”
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Tiffany Owens Reed is the host of The Bottom-Up Revolution podcast. A graduate of The King's College and former journalist, she is a New Yorker at heart, currently living in Texas. In addition to writing for Strong Towns and freelancing as a project manager, she reads, writes, and curates content for Cities Decoded, an educational platform designed to help ordinary people understand cities. Explore free resources here and follow her on Instagram @citiesdecoded.