Franklin County’s housing crisis isn’t just a social issue, it’s an economic and educational one. Greenfield and the surrounding towns are at a critical point where the lack of affordable, available housing threatens to slow progress on multiple fronts, including those associated with one one of our greatest local assets: Greenfield Community College (GCC).
Each year, GCC serves as both an engine of opportunity and a stabilizing force for our region. It educates nurses, early childhood educators, machinists, renewable energy technicians, and countless others who go on to strengthen our communities and local workforce. Yet, the college, and by extension, Franklin County, is hamstrung by one simple but devastating barrier: too many students have nowhere stable to live.
In a 2025 campus survey, 16% of GCC respondents said that housing insecurity had directly impacted their college experience. The picture grows even more alarming when one considers the results of GCC’s 2022 Community College Survey of Student Engagement:
- 19.1% of GCC students said they were unable to pay rent or mortgage in full at some point in the past year.
- 10% said they had to couch-surf or stay with relatives because they had nowhere else to go.
- 5.1% reported living temporarily in a shelter, hotel, or motel.
- 3.6% said they had slept outdoors or in a vehicle.
These are not just numbers, they represent real people, striving for a better life through education, but blocked by a shortage of affordable, safe, and nearby housing.
GCC is doing its part to prepare students for the region’s workforce needs. The college is adding new Associate in Applied Science degrees aligned with the area’s labor market blueprint. These programs will lead to family-sustaining wages and meet critical shortages in health care, technology, and the trades. The college hopes to make these “destination majors,” attracting students from beyond the Pioneer Valley, but that vision can’t be realized unless students can find places to live.
The payoff for investing in housing is enormous. Eighty-one percent of GCC alumni stay in Franklin or Hampshire County, where they buy homes, pay taxes, enroll their children in local schools, and strengthen the local economy. More housing doesn’t just serve today’s students, it anchors tomorrow’s workforce.
If we want a thriving Franklin County, one where young people don’t have to choose between an education and a roof over their heads, we must treat housing as the essential infrastructure it is. The future of Greenfield, and of the region, depends on it.
Michelle Schutt is president of Greenfield Community College.