EASTHAMPTON — Two measures aimed at tackling housing affordability and development — creating a Housing Crisis Task Force and amending regulations for short-term rentals — have won City Council approval.
The resolution establishing the housing task force, put forward by City Councilor Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid, passed unanimously. It doubles as a request to formally recognize the housing crisis, aiming to bolster the city’s cohesion among everyone involved in housing.
“I felt like we have been doing a lot of great things in the city — I wanted to name those successes,” Jamrog-McQuaid said about the resolution. “I also wanted to name the housing affordability crisis, as a crisis.”
The short-term rental ordinance amendment, meanwhile, consumed the majority of time for councilors at its March 18 meeting, with several members of the public giving input during a public hearing on the matter.
Housing Crisis Task Force
The task force resolution, sent to the council after unanimous approval by its Rules & Government Relations subcommittee, states that “The housing crisis is a central issue facing residents and families in Easthampton, throughout the Commonwealth, and across the nation.”
It also notes that more than 40% of Easthampton renter households were housing-cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than a third of their income on housing, according to U.S. Census data from 2023.
Jamrog-McQuaid said the goal of the resolution is to create a “whole-of-government” approach to addressing the housing crisis, establishing better lines of communication in the city. With approval from Mayor Salem Derby, the task force would consist of various stakeholders and meet annually.
It would include the city council president, Easthampton’s state representative and senator; the chairs of the Housing Partnership, Rent Study Committee, Planning Board and Housing Authority; a representative from the Easthampton Tenants Union, the planning director and the public health director.
A public email would be created for the task force with messages directed to each member, allowing open contact from the public to send any housing news.
“A big piece of this was also to encourage a whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis through cross-departmental and intergovernmental communication and collaboration,” Jamrog-McQuaid said.
In an interview with the Gazette, Jamrog-McQuaid said the city has multiple groups involved in housing such as the Rent Study Committee, Housing Partnership and Housing Authority.
The Rent Study Committee is currently exploring ways to implement rent stabilization that would address the needs of everyone — renters, landlords and developers — in the city. The Housing Partnership tries to support effective housing production and the Housing Authority helps regulate housing policy in the city.
Jamrog-McQuaid hopes the task force will help ensure the groups are not overlapping work, making tasks more efficient and collaborative with each other and the public.
The resolution recognizes that several tenants in the city have contacted the council and that the increase of impacted tenants has led to the creation of the Easthampton Tenants Union.
It also highlights many recent city actions that aim to align with state policy to increase housing production. Those include the creation of the Easthampton Housing Production Plan under former Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, development of the Housing Partnership’s recommended zoning recommendations and formation of the Easthampton Rent Study Committee.
“Easthampton is a local leader in housing policy and advocacy and has opportunities to work with state leadership,” it states.
Jamrog-McQuaid hopes the task force helps Easthampton continue its work around housing. The resolution references the city’s goals to align with the 2024 Affordable Homes Act, the 2025 statewide housing plan “A Home for Everyone,” and the 2025 Unlocking Housing Production Commission report “Building for Tomorrow.”
Short-term rental ordinance
The short-term rental ordinance amendment creates official guidelines for short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo listings in the city, which currently have no formal regulations besides the state Room Occupancy Excise Tax that took effect in 2019.
The ordinance was last discussed by the council at its Dec. 3 meeting, when councilors raised concerns about a costly state code that requires an approximately $5,000 special smoke and carbon monoxide detector system to be included, as an alternative to a sprinkler system for these rentals.
Since then, the council’s Ordinance Subcommittee has been working to bring the ordinance back to the council. However, since the city cannot disregard state code, the alarm system remains a requirement for short-term rentals.
“The reality is some people unfortunately won’t be allowed to continue to be a short-term renter because of codes,” said City Council President Koni Denham.
Seeing the need to establish some form of regulations on these rentals in the city, councilors agreed that the ordinance was adequate for the time being. The ordinance requires the city council to review it after one year and again, at least every two years after that.
Many councilors lauded the work of all departments involved — Planning, Police, Fire, Building and Health — to create the ordinance, which has been worked on for more than a year.
“I think it’s very likely that we’re going to have to revisit this [ordinance] a number of times because this is an evolving market and the housing market in the United States is evolving,” Councilor Thomas Peake said toward the end of discussion.
“There’s things that are in this that I think make a lot of good sense and there’s things that are in this that I think are a good placeholder for now, but probably at some point we’ll want to refine,” he added.
Specifically, the amendment makes a significant change to the city’s Zoning Ordinance, to recognize short-term rentals alongside motels, hotels, lodging houses and bed and breakfasts, with slight differences compared to the state’s definition under Massachusetts General Law (MGL) 64G.
The ordinance defines this type of unit as “The rental of a whole or a portion of a primary or accessory Dwelling Unit, in exchange for consideration, as overnight accommodations for no more than twenty-eight consecutive calendar days.”
The ordinance has many requirements, but some of the major ones discussed at the meeting include: required registration of these units through the city’s Board of Health and the state Department of Revenue (DOR), a cap of 50 short-term rental licenses for the entire city which are not transferrable, a prohibition on excessive noise between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and several others.
Currently, the city has 43 short-term rentals, identified by registrations through the DOR. A waiting list will be created for new short-term rental license applications.
Concerns were raised over several of the stipulations, particularly the 50-unit cap. But Councilor Tamara Smith, who is on the Ordinance Committee, said that the Building, Fire and Health Departments said they would likely only have the capacity to do yearly inspections for 50 units in a year.
Additionally, some councilors worried how the noise restriction would be enforced since Easthampton does not have a noise ordinance. Police Chief Chad Alexander clarified that short-term rental noise complaints would be treated as any others.
While councilors deliberated about the different conditions, ultimately they felt comfortable approving the ordinance knowing that it will be reviewed in a year.
City resident Karl Prahl said he sees how owner-occupied units can be very beneficial to the community, such as for someone aging in place that wants additional income. What really concerns him is when family homes are taken off the market to be used as a short-term rentals. He hopes the council keeps this in mind as the ordinance is reviewed in the future.
“Maybe we really have to look at the stand-alone properties,” Prahl said. “Who is running these, are they a member of our community and how do we make sure that somebody who comes to Easthampton in 10 years, 20 years, has the same opportunity to have a short-term rental?”