Age-Friendly Joins the Clean Slate Initiative
October 27, 2025

Over the past six years, the Age-Friendly Coalition has dedicated its efforts to gaining insights into the challenges and needs of older adults in relation to housing, transportation, and community support. The report “Healthy Aging with a Criminal Record in Hampden County MA: A Health Impact Assessment,” (HIA) revealed that older adults have been denied housing due to having a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORIs) despite these records being decades old. This obstacle has made it challenging for many older adults to access stable housing.

The HIA includes six potential policy changes to help older adults with CORIs secure housing: 

  1. Establish formal partnerships between housing and service providers; 
  2. Limit tenant selection criteria to the two types of convictions that HUD denies; 
  3. Allow applicants to submit evidence of mitigating circumstances before denial; 
  4. Create explicit criteria for denial that is available publicly; 
  5. Share statistics about denials; 
  6. Allow family members to house people with a CORI.

Housing is essential to a person’s overall well-being. Securing housing is pivotal for a successful reentry into the community. Advocacy is needed to address the life-long barriers a CORI creates, especially for older adults. Because of this, the Point32Health Foundation provided an additional $94,000 grant to Live Well Springfield to advocate for “clean slate” legislation. The Clean Slate Initiative is a national coalition working with community-based organizations across the country to pass and implement laws that automatically seal the records of people who are eligible, and expand eligibility. The Age-Friendly Coalition, Men of Color Health Awareness, and New North Citizens Council have joined the Clean Slate Initiative with the goal of making Massachusetts the thirteenth state to enact these types of legislation. This would help change the lives of tens of thousands of people in the Commonwealth. 

To join the movement contact Andrea Freeman.

Springfield Comprehensive Housing Plan Resident Advisory Committee Kickoff

By Rusty Polsgrove • April 13, 2026
In February, the Transforming Communities Initiative partnered with the City of Springfield and CZB Inc. to host the first of four Resident Advisory Committee meetings in support of the upcoming Comprehensive Springfield Housing Plan. The meeting brought residents together with housing experts and city partners to ensure that the lived experiences of Springfield community members help shape the direction of the plan. The Housing Plan will be guided by both a Steering Committee and a Resident Advisory Committee. The Steering Committee includes a diverse cross-section of city leaders, with representatives from city government, housing authorities, real estate and development, financial institutions, nonprofit and public health organizations, and local industry. The Resident Advisory Committee, convened by the Live Well Springfield Coalition, includes grassroots organizing partners, Way Finders’ Voices of the People resident advocate group, and resident advocates from Live Well Springfield’s Transforming Communities Initiative. Together, these two committees bring a blend of policy, community, and market expertise to guide housing strategies that reflect both institutional knowledge and lived experience. The City of Springfield selected CZB, Inc. as the consultant to develop Springfield’s first comprehensive housing plan. The Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts will serve as the community engagement partner, convening the Resident Advisory Committee and advising on CZB’s outreach efforts. During the session, residents engaged in discussion with Charles Buki of CZB about the challenges they are experiencing in Springfield’s housing landscape. Participants raised concerns about vacant properties in neighborhoods, the struggles faced by small landlords, and the burden of rapidly rising property taxes for homeowners. Residents also discussed the impact of inflation, the prevalence of low-quality rental housing, and the “cliff effect” experienced by individuals and families attempting to transition out of homelessness or government assistance. These conversations are an important step in ensuring the housing plan reflects real community needs. The Transforming Communities Initiative will continue working with the City of Springfield and CZB through September to support community engagement as data collection, analysis, and creation of strategies for the housing plan move forward. The City of Springfield Comprehensive Housing Plan Process will continue through September. This April you can expect to see CZB hosting Open Houses throughout the City, inviting community members to view the initial research findings about the Springfield housing market and give feedback about the issues they’ve seen in their interactions with the housing market.
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