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MCLA drops plan to convert unused housing into temporary emergency shelter after backlash

Academic buildings sit among leafy green trees and lawns.
The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
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https://www.mcla.edu/

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams announced this week it’s dropping a proposal to convert an unused dormitory into emergency shelter for unhoused community members. $2.6 million in state funding would have gone toward creating temporary housing for low-income families and pregnant mothers in need under a proposal from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. Addressing the commonwealth’s growing housing crisis is an issue Governor Maura Healey has prioritized since taking office in January. MCLA President Jamie Birge tells WAMC that a rancorous response from the community and safety concerns were at the heart of the decision.

BIRGE: After a full consideration of the information over the last few weeks, it just, you know, when I reflected on where we were, I was concerned about the long length of the long-term lease, and ongoing operational questions and concerns, which led me to think, I think it's time to end our consideration of it.

WAMC: When I last spoke with the college, I was hearing that there weren't operational concerns with the residential facilities, and that it was a relatively short-term lease of 12 to 18 months. That sounds like sort of a change of message from MCLA. Can you unpack that for us?

Yeah, I'm happy to. We are seeing a little more strengthen in our enrollment numbers. Last fall our enrollment, incoming class was up 13%. Right now, we're projecting an increase of 17% over this coming fall's incoming class. And so, we think we may need to use the facility sooner than we anticipated. So, some positive things are happening here that made me realize we might need to use the facility sooner. So, I decided that it was time for us to go on a different route.

There was some community outcry about the plan, including calls from influential community members like former mayor and current State Representative John Barrett III – who lives not far from said towers – against turning them into temporary housing for families and low-income pregnant mothers. Did that play into this decision?

Well, certainly, Representative Barrett and Mayor [Jennifer] Macksey have made public statements in the media about their opposition to the plan. What I’ve noticed more recently, as they've talked more openly about their opposition, we've seen a level of rancor and vitriol in messaging coming from neighbors in the community, both in emails and conversations on the street. And so, I had a quickened concern about the safety of people that might move into Berkshire Towers, because I was concerned that the community might threaten their safety or be unkind or not very welcoming. And so, I didn't want that to become a condition for people living here.

I'm interested in your conversations with the state about this plan- What was their reaction to your decision to not proceed with that?

They were very disappointed that we weren't going to proceed. They understood that there was fairly significant pushback, particularly from elected officials. That concerns them. But they were grateful that we would consider the proposal in the first place. You know, I've been on record in a number of different places, you know, expressing my admiration and respect for Governor Healey's plan to deal with this growing crisis, and you probably have seen yesterday's Boston Globe article about the influx of migrants coming into the state. And so, I admire the administration's efforts to try and approach this. And that hasn't changed. But what has changed is kind of the concerns that I have about the safety of the people who would have moved here.

Do you have any regrets about this process and how MCLA chose to pursue it?

No regrets at all. You know, I think that what most people don't know is that the historic public purpose of American higher education is to respond to the needs and demands of society. Right now, there's probably not a bigger need or demand in our commonwealth than this issue. And so, I think there was an obligation on my part – not only as the president of the institution, but the institution itself – to at least consider the possibility of trying to apply what resources we had to help contribute to the resolution of a thorny problem. So, I have no regrets that we considered this.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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