Opinion: ACLT Victory and the Future of Affordable Amherst
The Manning House at 61 Fearing Street. Photo: Amherst Community Land Trust
In downtown Amherst, the last open lots are quietly shaded by the great swatches of forest that have watched generations come and go. Neighbors still talk and emails hum fragments of concern and care, bound by a shared sense that Amherst is slowly slipping away. Prices keep rising, investors keep circling, and another single-family home always seems one offer away from becoming another rental churned through student turnover.
But on Fearing Street, residents organized, resisted, and ultimately reclaimed a little corner of the town’s soul a reminder that community isn’t just a zoning line or a development plan but belongs to the people who live in it.
The Amherst Community Land Trust (ACLT), a small but determined nonprofit, worked with residents to raise more than $100,000 to preserve the Manning House as an owner-occupied home. Add to that a $150,000 contribution from the Manning family in the form of a reduced sale price, and you have a collaboration that bridged generations, income levels, and ideologies.
Crucially, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts didn’t just offer a tax credit but provided direct cash reimbursements to donors who contributed more than $1,000. The message was clear: when local communities step up, the state will meet them halfway in a moment when government and grassroots generosity actually aligned.
This was not a large-scale housing development. It won’t make headlines in Boston or rewrite zoning law. Affordability doesn’t have to be theoretical, and that protecting our neighborhoods doesn’t mean freezing them in time.
Rizwana Khan is a resident of Amherst and a member of the town’s Human Rights Commission.
Just to clarify: the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) for donation to ACLT of $1,000 or more means that half of the donation amount will be credited toward Massachusetts state tax owed. Those who do not owe any taxes in Massachusetts will receive a check for that amount. ACLT has been awarded $150,000 in CITC, which can go toward $300,000 in donations. When that is gone, we can apply for another allocation. Visit the ACLT website for more information.