GREENFIELD — Democratic candidates seeking their party nomination for the 1st Franklin District seat in the House of Representatives shared their visions for tackling housing issues like affordability and insufficient housing stock on Tuesday.
The two candidates — Corinne Coryat, former Rep. Natalie Blais’ aide, and Greenfield City Council President Lora Wondolowski — agreed that work needs to be done to address the cost of living and high housing costs in Massachusetts, but they had slightly different views on which approaches should be taken.
One question at the forum, held at the Guiding Star Grange and organized by the Greenfield Tenants Union, River Valley Democratic Socialists of America and Housing Greenfield, asked the candidates if they support rent control and whether they would back legislation to implement it, given that the proposed November ballot question that would have repealed the 1980s ban on rent control was removed due to references to religion that led the Supreme Judicial Court to deem it unconstitutional.
Wondolowski said she “absolutely supported” rent control, and referenced a May Greenfield City Council resolution in favor of the measure. The resolution supported not only the proposed ballot question, but also two bills before the state Legislature that would limit rent increases to “not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for the applicable area or 5%, whichever is lower.” The proposals include a number of exemptions for small properties and new construction.
If elected, Wondolowski said she would do everything she could to support rent control legislation, and added that part of why landlords are increasing rent is due to increasing property taxes amid soaring health insurance costs and school budgets that municipalities have to pay for using property tax revenues. She said rent control would help, but addressing these other costs is necessary, too.
“I know there was a technicality on religion, but that shouldn’t keep us from making sure that we can put a cap and have more reasonable rents,” Wondolowski said of the original ballot question. “Housing is a human right, period.”
Coryat agreed with Wondolowski that rent control is an important tool to make housing more affordable, but she said the language of that specific ballot question needed work. She explained that it should not have included exemptions for religious properties.
“It’s a technicality, but also, you can’t discriminate based on religion, which is why it fails,” Coryat said. “I think we need to do better when we’re going to the ballot to make us advocates and coalition builders that are going to [put forth] a piece of legislation that is going to succeed.”
She added that she thinks having a blanket 5% annual increase limit would be challenging for small landlords, and that legislation should be reworked to allow communities to choose what works best for them, between 5% and 10%.
Coryat said an additional path to reduce housing costs is to build more housing, and to do this, investments need to be made in water and sewer infrastructure. If elected, she said she would like to pursue expansions of state funding programs to make expanding infrastructure and building housing more feasible.
“We do need a major investment in housing, but we don’t want to be building so many units at a time just in Greenfield, for example,” Coryat said. “The burden cannot be on one particular region. It needs to be spread throughout.”
Wondolowski agreed that infrastructure improvements would be a big help, and that Franklin County does not just need new homes; it needs to renovate its aging housing stock and develop more senior housing.
Coryat argued that renovating all the older homes in the county would only result in prices increasing, and those homes being bought by those looking to retire here from elsewhere.
“What’s happening in Franklin County a lot is these homes that have been aging over time get rehabilitated, and they sell to people who are often older, coming from outside the region, and the rest of us get priced out,” Coryat said. “I’m 27. I would love to own a house one day. That dream has gotten further and further away from me as we progress down the cost of living continuing to grow.”
Coryat added that the state needs to invest in producing all types of housing: affordable and market rate, emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent. If elected, she said she would also push for the state to increase funding and resources for advocacy programs that help people understand housing vouchers and assist them when facing discrimination from landlords. She said she would push for the attorney general to open an office closer to the region — the nearest location is in Springfield — as she believes this would allow people to seek legal help when they are having issues with a landlord.
Wondolowski said that if she is elected, she would pursue expansions of down-payment assistance programs and advocate for more state funding to come to Franklin County to support school budgets, so that municipalities wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on property taxes. She added that she would like to see rental voucher programs expanded and state funding increased so more people can use these programs.
The primary will be held on Sept. 1, and the winner will advance to face Independent candidate Amy Lavallee in the Nov. 3 election.
“I see huge opportunity here. From a young person, I want to be able to live here, raise my family here. My friends want to be able to move back here. If we’re gonna do that and commit to it, we need young people at the table; we need our voices to be heard,” Coryat said. “Not only am I a new generation of leadership, but I’m also experienced.”
“This race isn’t about who loves Franklin County more. … It isn’t about who’s lived here longer. It’s really about who’s ready to lead,” Wondolowski said. “I have the experience, leadership and relationships to make a difference here.”
