West Stockbridge — On a chilly Tuesday afternoon, a small group of stakeholders sat around a back-room table at the West Stockbridge Library, but no books were in sight.
Led by Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) Senior Housing Planner Brett Roberts, in conjunction with the West Stockbridge Affordable Housing Trust, those assembled spent an hour discussing housing issues in the town, highlighted by the area’s lack of affordable options. The April 8 forum was the final session out of three public meetings aimed at assisting BRPC to develop a housing-needs assessment that may be included in a future housing plan for the town.
The effect of demographics on West Stockbridge’s housing climate
According to federal and state data, the population of West Stockbridge has decreased by almost 14 percent from 1,416 residents in 2000 to 1,220 residents in 2022. During that same time frame, the median age of West Stockbridge citizens has ticked upwards by about 17 percent, from 44.4 years old in 2000 to 52 years old in 2022, while the group has seen the sharpest population decline in ages five years old, or children and teens, through adults up to age 34 years old. The next age group, 35 years old to 64 years old, showed a similar decline. “It shows us that we are not maintaining those different age demographics here in West Stockbridge,” Roberts said of the trends.
The data struck a chord with Tom Ruffing, a Richmond resident who owns several properties in West Stockbridge and has found it difficult to hire workers in town. “What somebody explained to me is everybody graduates high school here, goes off to college, and generally doesn’t come back,” he said. “But when they’re in their 30s and have a family and value the educational system and the outdoors, then they come back.”
By returning to town later in life, Ruffing said those Stockbridge natives have careers allowing them to earn enough money to buy a home locally, “moving from a position of strength, but it takes 15 years of away time to do that.”
Newcomer Glenn Myer, who recently relocated to West Stockbridge, inquired about the availability of apartments, tiny homes, or condominiums in town and was told that very few such housing forms—other than single-family homes—exist.
Roberts said there could be ways to make local zoning codes friendlier to these types of housing, adding more housing density as well. Ruffing responded that West Stockbridge needs more dense tracts with smaller homes as opposed to “$900,000 spec homes.” “It needs a neighborhood like that at a price point that people can afford,” he said.
A study performed by the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust showed local affordable-housing products are even “out of the scope of most, if not all, but a handful of people that are waitlisted,” said Construct Housing Navigator Kate Coulehan.
Affordable housing is defined as available to those earning 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) or below, Roberts said. For areas outside of Pittsfield in Berkshire County, the AMI is $105,700, “which is pretty high on a national scale,” he said. So, that threshold is calculated by taking 80 percent of that AMI number, or $84,560, with 200 percent of AMI at $211,400.
Besides affordable housing, Berkshire County is lacking in housing for those earning 200 percent AMI and below, “the missing middle” in both affordability and types of housing such as apartment or condominiums, Roberts said. “If young professionals are moving to the Berkshires and didn’t have enough [money] for a downpayment [on a home], there aren’t a ton of options in West Stockbridge to make this place home,” he said.
Last year, Construct purchased Cassilis Farm, a country estate in New Marlborough, Coulehan said, aiming to turn the historic site into 13 affordable residential units and housing tenants who either financially need substantial rent subsidies or who earn a percent of AMI, as well as individuals who need support from the state Department of Mental Health.
Housing market elasticity—or the ability for senior folks to downsize from a larger single-family home to a smaller home or condominium, reserving the bigger residence for a younger family—isn’t happening in the Berkshires, Roberts said, because downsized living isn’t available. One opportunity for those individuals to be helped is through BRPC’s Home Modification Program funded by the state to allocate modifications up to $50,000 for some residences, allowing homeowners to age in place or be able to accommodate a disability such as a ramp addition.
Local housing conditions
According to Roberts, the median sale price for a home in West Stockbridge, or the 01266 ZIP code, was $559,000 in March. Although that number seems high, it is actually lower than a number of other South County towns, including Great Barrington and Stockbridge.
For Myers and his wife, finding a home in West Stockbridge at the end of last year meant downsizing from a 2,500-square-foot house on acreage to a $600,000, 1,000-square-foot cottage as the couple embarked on life as empty nesters. “It took us years,” he said of the house hunt. “We are by far the tiniest house on our million-dollar row.”
Roberts admits that the shortage of available homes for purchase is frustrating for buyers.
“If you don’t come from a place of privilege or wealth, you’re screwed, you just are,” Myers said of the struggle to find housing in the Berkshires. He questioned whether having short-term rentals (STRs), or housing such as Airbnbs that are rented for less than 30 days, “is a good thing or a bad thing or are people indifferent.”
“It’s two sides of a coin,” Ruffing answered. “It’s taking up housing stock that otherwise would fill a family.” Because of the lack of housing, home prices are boosted up, forcing workers such as restaurant staff to live elsewhere, in more affordable towns, or, as Coulehan said, just not seek employment in the Berkshires, leaving businesses in the lurch and closing early.
West Stockbridge governing boards are currently processing a draft bylaw covering STRs. However, Ruffing suggested that positive aspects of such ventures exist: Visitors renting those units create income for in-town STR owners, stimulate the economy by buying local goods and services, and add to town coffers through taxes.
West Stockbridge borders include 880 housing units, with 294 of those units, or about 33 percent, classified as “second homes,” with their owners spending less than six months at the residence.
Forum guests admitted those statistics aren’t surprising, with Ruffing stating that every third house on his block is owned by second-home owners. The impact of the seasonal homes on the West Stockbridge community is dependent on where those residences are located, he said. For instance, if located by the center of town where residents desire “community,” a seasonal home might be viewed negatively, as opposed to a second-home owner residence situated in a less-populated area with large lots, diminishing its impact on surrounding neighbors, Ruffing said.
“Except you can never underestimate the impact on police, fire, essential services in the summer, when everybody’s here; that’s not a free lunch,” he said. “There’s a lot of burden on the local infrastructure.”
Ruffing distinguished the impact of a seasonal community on proprietors of local businesses and restaurants during the winter months “when everybody just disappears and, all of a sudden, you’re trying to pay your waitstaff at a restaurant when there’s nobody around.” “It really makes a seasonal economy and that’s a tough thing to juggle,” he said.
Planning housing
Myers questioned the applicability of West Stockbridge’s Strategic Plan that would include a housing component.
Longtime resident Chris Powell, a member of West Stockbridge Affordable Housing Trust Committee who spoke as an individual and not on behalf of the group, responded that the town has a Draft Master Plan which incorporates housing as part of that plan. He said a housing-needs assessment was done as part of that plan, with officials working in conjunction with BRPC. The plan draft began in 2020 and was completed in 2022.
With the town’s approval of the Affordable Housing Trust and Affordable Housing Trust Committee last year, West Stockbridge now has a designated entity to oversee the town’s affordable-housing projects. “In short, there is a plan and a vision that has been put together that incorporates not only housing but also downtown and central planning,” Powell said. BRPC Housing Planner Michaela Grady is working with Roberts to complete that draft plan as a portion of the current assessment.
Weighing in on where new housing in West Stockbridge should be located, forum participants suggested those sites should be on a bus line feeding mass transit options or in the center of town for walkability and advocated the possibility of subsidizing workforce and low-income housing.
Participants also offered possible methods to help the local housing crisis, including promoting adaptive reuse projects, or the development of empty or underutilized downtown spaces for housing; adding rental and mortgage assistance programs, especially for first-time home buyers; creating a buyer lottery for properties purchased by the town’s Affordable Housing Trust; and the takeover of properties by the Trust deemed a “public safety hazard,” with an eye towards rehabbing the site for new tenants.
“We’re at the very beginning of this process,” Roberts said.
In the next four to six weeks, the data gathering portion of the project will be finalized before public input is opened in a survey format and a final report presented to the West Stockbridge Affordable Housing Trust. BRPC will be on hand following the report to provide technical assistance by way of coordinating programs to implement the project.
