Housing Headlines

WELLFLEET --- After months of meetings, a local housing task force which is being supported by MHP held a public forum to garner input from residents about how to use a six-acre town parcel for up to 46 units of affordable housing. Before a crowd of over 60 residents, MHP's Laura Shufelt and Wellfleet Housing Authority Board Chairwoman Elaine McIllroy made presentations about the need for affordable housing and development possibilities for the site, which is on the east side of Route 6 behind the police and fire station and across the street from the town's elementary school.

NEWTON ---A local group which calls itself "RightSize Newton" has collected enough signatures to force a revote or public referendum of the city council's 17-7 OK of 800 units. The group also filed a complaint with the state that charges Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller with improperly using the city's website and her email newsletter to influence voters' opinions.

On Friday December 20, 2019, the state Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) issued a so-called "1.5 percent ruling" concerning an application by a developer for a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit in Watertown. DHCD found that Watertown is in compliance with the requirement that 1.5 percent of the town's land that is zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use is being used for affordable housing. Thus, the town has achieved Ch. 40B "safe harbor" status, meaning they can decline applications for Ch.40B comprehensive permits. This is the first community to achieve the 1.5 percent "safe harbor" since new regulations went into effect in 2008. Prior to this, towns that have achieved "safe harbor" have done so by having the state certify that 10 percent of its housing is classified as affordable.

PROVINCETOWN --- The startup Provincetown Independent online newspaper recently found that a fact sheet created by opponents of a 40-unit affordable housing proposal in Truro contained inaccurate information related to groundwater nitrogen levels expected to be produced by the project. According to the Independent, the fact sheet - used by a town official to oppose the project - incorrectly claimed that Germany has a stricter standard than the U.S. and also quoted the town's health agent as disputing the fact sheet's claim that the area around the housing proposal has the worst nitrogen contamination in Truro.

Using findings from MHP's Center for Housing Data recent work about the potential to build more densely around metro Boston's rail stations, the Boston Globe pens an editorial calling for the passage of two housing bills that would conceivably making multifamily housing easier to build - Governor Baker's Housing Choice legislation and a legislative Housing Committee bill that would require communities served by the MBTA to allow for multifamily zoning around stations as a "matter of right."

NEWTON --- It appears that local groups RightSize Newton and the Committee for Responsible Development have collected over 4,800 signatures, more than the 3,032 needed to overturn the city council's 17-7 approval of the 800-unit Northland proposal. If the signatures are certified, the question of project approval would go before the voters.