Senator Lydia Edwards, Senate Chair of the MA Joint Committee on Housing, traveled west from her eastern district last week, to learn about western Massachusetts’ housing and homelessness challenges. Our western MA Senators hosted her in 5 different locations – Holyoke, Springfield, Chester, Great Barrington, Hadley and Greenfield – and our many Network partners joined in the greeting and information-sharing.
Thanks to Senator Jo Comerford, Senator Adam Gomez, Senator Paul Mark and Senator John Velis for making this important opportunity possible. Thanks to all of our partners who brought home to Senator Edwards both the unique and universal challenges facing our urban and rural region. Senator Edwards made clear that the learning curve was high and useful.
Please see a couple photos below, and the Hampshire/Franklin County powerpoint here that was used for her visit to Hadley and Greenfield, FYI (a great snapshot of that sub-region!).
We will have a chance to continue our engagement with Senator Edwards at an upcoming Housing Committee hearing on September 27, which will include several of our priority bills (e.g., Access to Counsel, MRVP, RAFT, Healthy Homes). Stay tuned for more on that soon.
Great work, western Massachusetts!
