Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- A study done by an MIT graduate student in conjunction with the housing advocacy group City Life/Vida Urbana has found that eviction rates are much higher in low-income majority nonwhite neighborhoods than in more affluent Boston neighborhoods. The study found that one in 10 private market units in Roxbury had an eviction in the last three years whereas Beacon Hill had just one in 100 units during a similar time period.

IPSWICH --- The town has a new plan to consider for the Bruni Market Place site as owners are still calling for 191 mixed-income apartments, but with a different building mix. In a recent meeting with the Zoning Board of Appeals, developers proposed to cut three buildings from four to three stories and add two more buildings on 2.5 acres to keep the project at 191 apartments.

PROVINCETOWN --- A local developer whose family also employs workers at his family's Marine Specialties store in Provincetown is proposing to build 43 apartments on Route 6. The project, if approved, would consist of 28 dormitory-style units, five studio apartments, nine one-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom apartment at 207 Route 6. “The genesis for it is our need for employee housing. There was just nothing,” said Patrick Patrick in reference to his family's business, which can't keep employees to work in its store.

BROCKTON --- Last year, Father Bill's and MainSpring House provided shelter for 222 veterans in the Quincy and Brockton area. The story of Mike Ryan is an example of how Father Bill's works to help homeless veterans and give them hope for a better life.

MASHPEE --- Mashpee became the seventh town on the Cape to adopt an accessory dwelling bylaw as Town Meeting recently approved a measure that will only require a building permit from the zoning board of appeals, not a special permit. The new regulations would allow property owners to receive a building permit for an ADU with up to two bedrooms that could be rented for periods no shorter than 30 days.

BOSTON --- As she said late last month in an MHP community meeting at MetroHousing|Boston, Pine Street Inn President Lyndia Downie told the Boston Herald editorial board that her organization's efforts to shift its focus from shelter beds to producing permanent affordable housing is facing neighborhood opposition due to stereotypes people have that homeless people "are somehow lesser than the rest of us."