Annual Report of the Interfaith Council Housing Assistance Committee

July 1, 2025 – June 20, 2026

I write this report in June, as our 2026 fiscal year winds down, and as I write, I am awaiting the delivery of two 8-person tents to house large families living outdoors and a delivery of milk crates to hold all of another individual's worldly goods. I expect an order for 50+ pairs of sneakers to come through any day. In spite of the opening of a city-organized Warming Center again this winter, which depended upon local safety personnel as well as a cadre of wonderful volunteers, year round it has been another very difficult year keeping our unhoused population safe. We have divided our funding more ways than ever before this year:

  • To support our 25+ year model of paying rental arrears for those facing eviction or paying start-up funding for those moving from homelessness or dangerous housing situations into more stable housing.

  • To support the homeless in our community with emergency supplies

  • To provide motel nights for those needing respite nights, mostly in winter but also in extreme heat

  • To quickly respond to shut-off notices for electricity or gas, often within hours of a request

  • To provide gas and/or food cards to those spending winter months in their vehicles

In all these areas, we continue to be the major organization for addressing any need that is truly urgent. Our Housing Assistance Committee meets every Tuesday morning on Zoom (thank you, Julie Orvis for joining us this year!), and includes representatives from Franklin Regional Housing (which administers RAFT funding), Community Action of Pioneer Valley, the Heartwing Center, and sometimes any of three Salvation Army units in addition to Julie and me representing the Interfaith Council.

Funds this year were generously given by:

  • The Bete Family, which again offered a $5,000 challenge grant to lead our letter-appeal fund-raising efforts

  • Generous donors from all walks of life, who made gifts from $20 - $1,000 in support of our mission. We also have several donors who make monthly gifts, year after year, which have amounted to thousands over the past decade.

  • The Church Street Home Fund of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, our single most reliable source of funding, which gave this year's annual allocation of $18,500. Established upon the closing of the Church Street Home for Women, the fund supports primarily women and low-income individuals.

  • The Opioid Task Force (OTF): I cannot say enough about how meaningful this partnership has been to our work. I have attended monthly meetings of their Homeless Network of Franklin and North Quabbin for years, recognizing that there is an overlap in the people we each support. Run by Deb McLaughlin, with support from Cathy Emeri, this task force has graciously included us as partners in grants they write, amounting to over $9,000 in reimbursement to us (over and above the pass-through listed below) for support we give to the unhoused community across Franklin County. Through this task force, we met Larry Thomas of the Wildflower Alliance, who is the single most connected person in Greenfield to the needs of the homeless community. He and I talk three or four times a week year-round. We also became connected with Kristen Baker of the Mary Lyon Foundation, another non-profit providing support in multiple ways, most often in the hill-towns. We have combined our resources with them to provide longer motel stays for individuals numerous times this year.

This is how our funds have been spent:

  • Rental Arrears/Start-Up funding: $20,500.41

  • 176 Motel Nights: $15,184.75

  • Supplies for the Unhoused: $12,896.05

  • Utilities: $5,072.94

  • Food and Gas cards: $2,823.80

  • Car repairs for those living in their cars: $1,639.91

  • New water heater: $445.19

  • Storage: $400

  • Opioid Task Force pass-through: We paid a Warming Center volunteer stipend (for over 60 hours!) that the City of Greenfield could not cover, and ordered over $10,000 worth of supplies as the remainder of an Opioid Task Force grant on the last allowable day (those funds would otherwise have had to be returned to the state) when no other organization could: $11,682.03

Total expenses this year: $70,645.08

I am blessed to have been part of this committee for nearly thirty years, and pray that, with the re-opening this summer of CSO's shelter and the addition of 36 single room studio apartments, THIS will be the year that housing and homelessness needs in Franklin County finally begin to ease. May it be so.

Warmly,
Amy Clarke

Housing Assistance

Link to Application for Housing Assistance

The Interfaith Council has been working with a coalition of local agencies that have provided housing assistance for over a decade. Partner agencies are Community Action Pioneer Valley, Montague Catholic Ministries, and the Salvation Army.

Grants Are Available for people who are in danger of becoming un-housed. We can help them with rent or rental arrears. We can assist people who are moving into housing for the first time or for people who are moving from a poor housing situation to a better one. We have also, on occasion, provided funds to house families in motels or to give a variety of support for those unhoused during the winter.

The committee- which is made up of individuals from partner agencies including Community Action Pioneer Valley, Montague Catholic Ministries, and the Salvation Army- grew out of a desire to be more proactive in helping people secure housing. This group meets weekly to review applications.

Heartwing is our contact for housing questions: housing@heartwingcenter.org.

‍ You can also contact Amy Clarke at dclarke33@comcast.net.

“We know the real answer is more housing,” said Amy Clarke. “and there are efforts, but it’s time-consuming…..It’s nothing immediate. But in the meantime, where is somebody going to go on a zero-degree night? We have the immediate ability to respond. It’s not ideal, but it’s something.”

News: Interfaith Council of Franklin County to receive $25k in ARPA Funds