“Massachusetts has had a housing crisis for decades.”

That’s the conclusion of a 2025 study called “A Home For Everyone,” compiled by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC). A housing “crisis” that has been with us for “decades” will not vanish in a year or two — even if we could pour new housing from a spigot. EOHLC says the state needs to create an additional 22,000 homes per year from 2025 to 2035. “This is the minimum number of homes needed to meet the needs of our existing population.” EOHLC says Franklin County needs an increase of less than 2.5% growth in housing. The Boston area needs 10% growth — a percentage 4 times higher.

Production of affordable homes is a challenge. One county official told me: “Greenfield has more than met its burden of providing affordable housing.” Greenfield’s 1,280 subsidized housing units is 52.2% of the total units in Franklin County. Nearly 15% of Greenfield’s housing units are Chapter 40B subsidized housing.

Part of the state’s solution to housing production is ADUs, which I call “Absentee Dwelling Units,” because the state has eliminated “owner occupied” as a requirement. EOHLC notes: “Sales and rent prices are at record levels, having risen faster than incomes. Low-cost rentals are vanishing. It is difficult for households at almost any income level to find housing they can afford in the communities where they want to live.”

For market-rate developers, high rents or sales prices are necessary to provide the investment returns expected by venture financers. “Even homeowners wishing to build an ADU may have trouble accessing the financing for it,” EOHLC admits. “The availability of modestly priced homes and apartments is dwindling as they are acquired and upscaled by investors who sell or rent at a much higher price point.”

Median home prices in Massachusetts have risen 73% since 2000, while median household income has risen only 4%. Wait lists for federal and state housing vouchers are long. First generation homebuyers find it impossible to buy a home, given rising sale prices. Higher-income households are moving to Greenfield, putting cash down on a home at higher than offered prices. If I convert my single-family to two-family, my assessment drops, and the city loses revenue. Have I added a duplex or an interior ADU? It depends on what I call it.

None of us can predict what will happen in this “Absentee Dwelling Unit” gold rush. Corporate investors will not blink at dropping two detached ADUs in a backyard, plus up to three units in the primary dwelling with no special permit. With no owner living on the property, ADUs cannot bring families closer together. Neighborhoods will change as more and more homes have no local owner inside.

The ADU regulations are clear: municipalities can “choose” to allow multiple ADUs on the same lot — or not. “One ADU on One lot” allows us to see what will happen in this new ADU marketplace. ADU Citizen petition number 1 adds one sentence to the Greenfield ADU ordinance, which clarifies that once a single “protected” ADU has been built, we can draw the line on additional ADUs on that lot. Instead of multiplying absentee owners, let’s allow our 5,272 homeowners to each add one ADU.

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The citizen amendment should require a simple majority vote because it’s being added to an ordinance that was adopted by the City Council on a simple majority vote. But two days ago the city’s lawyer wrote an “opinion” that our ADU amendment will need a two thirds supermajority, or 8 votes. That means a “minority rule” of 5 councilors can kill it. We argued that Chapter 40A, section 5 allows an ADU amendment by a simple majority “whether within the principal dwelling or a detached structure on the same lot,” as of right. That’s what our amendment does. An ADU amendment by the council, or by citizens, should be adopted the same way: a simple majority.

I also support Councilor Michael Mastrototaro’s amendment that first floor dwelling units in mixed business/residential districts shall not be allowed on the street side, and that commercial spaces shall occupy no less than 50% of the first-floor square footage. The first-floor space in our central commercial district should be dedicated to retail sales.

Before tomorrow night at 6 p.m., email citycouncil@greenfield-ma.gov. We need eight councilors to stand with citizens. We need fewer absentee landlords, and more owner-occupied housing. We need your voice at John Zon to ring out: “One ADU on One lot.”

Al Norman’s PUSHBACK column appears in The Recorder the first and third Wednesday of each month.