Housing Trust Mulls Support of Public Bank; Moves Forward on Amherst Community Land Trust Plan for Amity Street

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, December 11, 2025

This meeting was held over Zoom and wasrecorded.

Present
Gaston de los Reyes (chair), Alex Cox, Allegra Clark, Rob Allingham, Bob Pomeroy, Karla Rasche, and Heejae Kim

Staff: Greg Richane (Housing Coordinator)

The Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust (AMAHT) heard a presentation from Massachusetts Public Banking, a sponsor of a legislative initiative to establish a public bank for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the idea was positively received by the trust, they deferred endorsing the proposal until they could gather more information about public banks and the plans for Massachusetts. 

The Amherst Community Land Trust’s (ACLT) plan to build a five-unit affordable homeownership opportunity on Amity Street also received a favorable endorsement from the AMAHT, with members instructing town staff to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the land trust to encourage realization of the project.

Massachusetts Public Banking Initiative
Athul Krishnadas from the Massachusetts Public Banking Initiative sought the Housing Trust ’s endorsement of H.1114/S.736, “An Act to Establish a Massachusetts Public Bank.” The bill has had its hearing before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Financial Services. Krishnadas said that the proposed legislation would reserve a percentage of state tax revenue to be invested in public projects in Massachusetts, instead of being invested in large Wall Street banks and non-local projects. Currently, a significant portion of Massachusetts state tax revenue is not invested in the state.

Although public banks exist worldwide at all levels, from local to state to national, the only statewide public bank in the United States was established in 1919 in North Dakota to protect local farms from foreclosure, and it is still thriving today, providing loans to businesses and farmers in the state.

Krishnadas said that the legislation has received significant opposition from the banking industry, but has been endorsed by many nonprofits and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which provide loans to low-income and underserved communities that larger banks often will not lend to. The large banks cite the excess risk of supporting the local projects, but Krishnadas stated that CDFIs have shown themselves to be able to manage the risks.

AMAHT member Bob Pomeroy said that he would like to learn more about public banks and the proposed legislation before the trust endorses it. AMAHT Chair Gaston de los Reyes suggested that members direct their questions to staff liaison Greg Richane, who will work with Krishnadas to answer them. The trust can then vote whether or not to endorse the legislation at its January meeting. 

Housing Trust Considering Granting Funds for the Land Trust to Acquire Amity Street Property 
After hearing a plan from the Amherst Community Land Trust for a combination of grants and loans from AMAHT to help purchase the property at 174 Amity Street at a reduced price, and develop it with Habitat for Humanity into five units of affordable homeownership, the Housing Trust members felt that they would like to begin their support by using the funds requested for the acquisition, rather than for both acquisition and redevelopment. Their thinking was that the first step in the project is acquiring the property, and that a substantial amount given to acquisition would aid in fundraising from other organizations and the public. 

All members of the Housing Trust stated that they were eager to have the project succeed, but wanted to minimize their risk; AMAHT received over $1 million from the Roberts Group as payment in lieu of providing the required three affordable units at 55 South Pleasant Street. Robert Allingham said that he wanted to move forward on the project because of where it’s located and “what kind of statement it makes for us and the town.”

However, trust member Heejae Kim noted that if AMAHT fulfilled ACLT’s request for a combination of loans and grants for the project, it would tie up much of the trust’s money and jeopardize the ability to support other projects for the next three years while the Amity Street project was being built and make it difficult for AMAHT to reach its goal of 20 affordable homeownership units in the next five years. According to ACLT, the loans would be repaid when the units were sold.

De los Reyes wanted more specifics about the project, such as a formal commitment from the property owner about the sales price and a chosen contractor. Allegra Clark noted that since 2021, AMAHT has supported Way Finders’ proposed rental project on Belchertown Road, the supportive housing built a few years ago atEast Gables, and the Amherst Community Homes affordable homeownership duplexes in North Amherst. The total for these projects was over $1 million, although ˛the trust has not disbursed any money this year. She said she liked that the Amity Street homes would be permanently affordable. AMAHT has not provided loans before.

The trust unanimously voted to direct Richane to develop an MOU for the project, hopefully to be presented at the January meeting. Richane will speak to ACLT to obtain a legal letter of appraisal and the accepted sale price, to clarify the timing of the sale, to confirm the permits needed for the project, and to demonstrate a phase 1 environmental survey and a preliminary marketing plan. The MOU will need to be vetted by the attorneys for both the town and ACLT.

Pomeroy noted that investing in the cost of acquisition was fairly safe for AMAHT, since this was a prime property in the town, and even if ACLT’s plans did not work out, the property could still be used for housing. The trust agreed to a stepwise support of the project, not a commitment to the whole proposal at this time.