AMHERST — Families living in the University of Massachusetts Amherst family housing complex North Village Apartments learned by email earlier this month that their homes would be demolished within the year.
The announcement that the university planned to have a private developer build new housing on the North Village site by fall 2020 caused pain and anger for many residents who said the decision lacked transparency and input from them. The razing of their homes would destroy a tight-knit community, they said, and would cause low-income student workers and their families economic and personal hardship.
As North Village residents continue to organize, recently releasing a set of demands to the university, the UMass administration has announced additional support for the residents, saying that they would seek alternative housing for residents in apartment complexes “in the immediate vicinity” of the North Village location; ensure no extra costs, such as utilities, for displaced graduate students who accept the university’s alternative housing; offer new North Village housing to displaced residents first; ensure that rental rates in those new facilities are the same as the present rates, with “customary” annual increases; and pay for moving costs.
In a statement, university spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said that the Sept. 27 email to North Village residents is part of the university’s ongoing outreach efforts.
“The residents have asked a number of questions, and we wanted to share an update as more details of the project take shape,” Blaguszewski wrote. “University staff have been speaking with residents on an individual basis, but we believe having a group meeting will also be valuable and that has been scheduled for Monday afternoon.”
That meeting, which will take place Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. in the Marriott Center on the 11th floor of the Campus Center, comes on the same day as a Town Council meeting where university administrators are slated to provide updates on their plans to have a private developer build new housing at North Village as well as at Lincoln Apartments. The agenda item will be proceeded by a public comment period.
Blaguszewski said the university is in the process of working with local landlords to secure nearby housing so that families with school-age children can remain within Wildwood Elementary School.
“We expect to have more specifics in hand by Monday to share at the meeting,” he said.
The university’s announcement comes after North Village residents have organized opposition to the current terms of the development projects, writing op-ed pieces, voicing frustration online and in meetings with the university, and rallying support to their cause.
After the announcement of the North Village project, graduate student residents of North Village reached out to the graduate student union, the Graduate Employee Organization, also known as GEO, to see what the union could do to help them.
“The way that people in that community think about things collectively is something that doesn’t happen in universities very often,” GEO co-chair Jyoti Iyer said.
However, the issue of housing is not considered a “mandatory subject” of collective bargaining and therefore is not covered by the union’s contract with the university. But Iyer said the latest updates from the university are directly connected to the residents’ collective action to get more information and demand protections.
“We’ve seen a sudden change from no information and no engagement to a little bit of engagement and little bit of information, so it’s a good start,” Iyer said.
Several changes announced in the university’s Sept. 27 email address the demands that some North Village residents made in a recent open letter circulating on social media. Other demands have not been met, however, including that the university sign a contract with GEO to ensure that the new housing is complete by 2022; promise that the number of new family housing units will be equal to the amount currently available; and revoke the closure of the Amherst Family Center, which the university is slated to shutter in June 2020.
Despite the recently announced additional supports for families, some residents still remain skeptical of the university’s recent promises.
Aaron Yates, a doctoral student in sociology who lives with his family in North Village, said he is encouraged that the university has responded to the organizing efforts of North Village residents. But he added that the language in that Sept. 27 email to North Village residents was vague.
“People are concerned about the quality of the housing the university proposed to find,” Yates said. “If their justification for closing North Village is that the living conditions are not to the standard we deserve, then we expect the university to make sure whatever interim housing they secure is at least as good as North Village.”
Yates said it is unclear whether UMass Amherst will cover all the utilities in the alternative housing that North Village residents currently don’t have to pay for. He said he has also heard that laundry is significantly more expensive in neighboring apartments — a small cost that can nevertheless have a significant impact on the already tight budgets of many North Village families.
“No one is convinced yet, and people are really worried about the small costs that will add up that are not always obvious on the surface,” he said.
Then there is the issue of the many children who live with their families in North Village. Yates said surrounding apartment complexes like Presidential, Crestview and Puffton Village apartments have no playgrounds or outdoor space for kids, making them less friendly to the many North Village families with kids.
“Plus, they’re going to be surrounded more by the parties, by the noise,” he said. “People are saying it smells like weed over there.”
As for the university’s 2 p.m. Monday meeting with the North Village community, he said the administration never asked residents what time would work best for them. It was scheduled before the university informed residents it was happening, he said.
“That time got set during the middle of the workday when a lot of people are at work,” he said. “There wasn’t any communication about it.”
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.