The figures John Varner brings up in his guest column (“Amherst awash and slowly going under,” Sept. 23) concerning housing in Amherst hold a lot of truth but just tell one side of the story.
As a former member of the late Amherst Housing Partnership Fair Housing Committee, I can’t let them stand alone without raising the issue of all the housing solutions that were turned down. Two large student housing complexes on the outskirts of UMass, on private (taxable) land, were turned down over the pressure of neighbors that didn’t want them nearby.
Many other smaller solutions to the housing shortage were stopped in their tracks by neighbor intervention. The successful affordable complex on Longmeadow Drive was delayed for seven years by active intervention of neighbors but was eventually successful in court. So while UMass has not built housing for every student, Amherst allowed its citizens to have this negative control for decades. The move into family neighborhoods is a direct result.
Audrey Child
Amherst