In the News

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal on Monday attacked President Donald Trump’s proposed budget bill as well as efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency to remake Social Security, while also criticizing the promotion of inflammatory rhetoric on social media as opposed to regular dialogue.

Neal made the remarks as part of a panel at Wyckoff County Club in Holyoke titled “Building & Sustaining Livable Communities” hosted by the OneHolyoke Community Development Corporation. The purpose of the event was to discuss the housing shortage in the city and the state overall and how the uncertainty of federal grants affected development opportunities for local housing organizations.

Speaking to those gathered at the country club, Neal contrasted the achievements of the Trump administration with that of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Neal praised the efforts that went into passing the Inflation Reduction Act under Biden’s presidency, and accused the current administration of merely performative actions.

“There has to be some measure of achievement in American public life,” Neal said. “Not just a hit-or-miss press conference in the morning, a retreat in the afternoon, and the announcement of victory no matter what it is early into the evening. That’s not governance.”

Noting that this year marked the 90th anniversary of the adoption of Social Security, Neal also criticized attempts by the administration to remake the system that benefits millions of older Americans. He said claims made by DOGE that rampant fraud existed in the system were unfounded. Those claims were often made by billionaire Elon Musk, who once led DOGE but left the federal government in May.

“What nonsense that is,” Neal said. “If you have a problem [with Social Security], your congressman or congresswoman will track down the check.”

Neal said part of the blame around the lack of dialogue fell upon the current media landscape. Since purchasing the social media website Twitter and renaming it X, Musk has amplified more highly partisan accounts, many of which express support for Trump or Musk’s own political agenda.

“The challenge we have now is social media amplifies every conflict, the cable shows single you out if you can say the most outrageous things,” Neal said. “It keeps us away from trying to find common solutions.”

Monday’s event was led by Michael Moriarty, the executive director of OneHolyoke CDC. In an interview with the Gazette, Moriarty said that he put the event together to have a conversation on how to address ongoing housing problems given the changed political landscape since Trump took office.

“We don’t come in even pretending we have answers to the dilemma that we face,” Moriarty said. “The dilemma is, there’s a housing crisis, and we need to produce housing with every bit of knowledge and experience and resources that we have. At the same time, we cannot rely on sources of funding that we’ve relied on for decades.”

Moriarty said OneHolyoke CDC had not been directly affected yet because there had yet to be federal cuts to Section 8 housing, but that Trump’s proposed budget could possibly affect that directly.

“We don’t know what kind of commitment there’s going to be, but based on every other field that we’re looking at, we think it’s going to be a very small, insufficient commitment,” Moriarty said. “The state has stepped up to help get a lot of housing built. But we do know that we need to be thinking about all the potential funders and players.”

Presently, OneHolyoke has 250 units of housing scattered across 26 different locations in the city, according to Moriarty. According to data from the nonprofit MassINC that was presented on Monday, Holyoke ranks the highest among the commonwealth’s gateway cities by long-term vacancy rates, and could add more than 1,000 housing units by returning the vacant units to the market.

According to Elise Rapoza, a senior research associate at MassINC who spoke as part of the panel, the vacancy rates can be caused by units in probate court disputes and units too dilapidated to be inhabited.

“It’s both a problem, and an opportunity,” Rapoza said. “It’s a problem there’s so many units that are just sitting idly vacant, but there’s an opportunity to address the shortage by bringing some of those units back.”