GREENFIELD — A new committee aimed at finding ways to best serve the city’s homeless population is gaining momentum following City Council approval of its formation last week and the appointment of its leader.

City Council appointed At-Large City Councilor Sara Brown to chair the Unhoused Community Committee, which will include no more than five members to be appointed by City Council President Lora Wondolowski and two members appointed by the Mayor’s Office, making for a maximum of eight members.

“One of the things that’s really important to this committee is to have people with lived experience,” said Wondolowski, who proposed the committee’s creation. “We had several folks who ... are very interested in serving.”

Wondolowski initially proposed the committee as an ad hoc branch of Greenfield’s Community Relations Committee. She previously explained she came up with the idea after the removal of park benches and a chess table at the end of Miles Street prompted a community-wide discussion on how to best support the homeless population while maintaining safety.

Supporters of the decision, made by Mayor Ginny Desorgher in September, viewed the removal of the benches as a public safety measure, while opponents saw it as an anti-homeless infrastructure change. At the time, Desorgher said removing the benches was “the hardest decision that [she’s] had to make” and that she did not take the matter lightly, but amid growth in the homeless population, the city was experiencing an uptick in drug overdoses, illegal activity and arrests in that area.

Results from the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, used to track how many people are living without shelter in municipalities across the region, found that the number of homeless people in Franklin County had more than doubled, and 252 people were sleeping in shelters or outside compared to 104 in January 2023. Locally, the Point-in-Time Count is overseen by the Three County Continuum of Care, a program of Community Action Pioneer Valley that is committed to ending homelessness in Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.

Precinct 7 City Councilor William “Wid” Perry, in discussing the ad hoc committee, recalled a discussion among Community Relations Committee members about keeping the city’s warming centers open on not just freezing cold nights, but rainy or windy nights as well. Following Perry’s comments, Brown noted that a homeless individual who initially expressed interest in joining the committee mentioned that his or her camping area had flooded.

Wondolowski also noted she spoke to Community and Economic Development Director Amy Cahillane, who works in depth on this issue, to ensure the new committee would complement, not duplicate, existing efforts to assist the homeless in Greenfield.

“I had a really good conversation with Amy about not duplicating effort,” Wondolowski said. “We want to enhance that work.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.