Housing Headlines

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."

BOSTON --- From Medford to Newton, Revere to Braintree, upcoming local elections could partially hinge on housing and development issues, reports the Globe's Tim Logan. In his story, Logan writes that several of the 15 mayors who last fall together pledged to permit more housing are facing challengers, many of whom hold different ideas about how their communities should look and feel.

BOSTON --- Concerns about rising rents bubbled over in a Mattapan neighborhood recently as about 30 residents took the streets along the busy Cummins Highway to protest what they say is a trend of step rent hikes and inadequate living conditions at the 400-unit Fairlawn Apartments. According to tenant organizers, DSF Group has raised some families’ rents by as high as 20 percent since it acquired the property in July 2018 for $65 million. Organizers say some families have already been displaced by rent increases.

SALEM --- For the second time in less than a year, the Salem City Council failed to deliver the necessary two-thirds majority vote necessary to OK a housing proposal intended to provide more affordable housing for the city. This time, the council defeated an accessory bylaw that would've allowed Salem homeowners to rent out existing accessory dwelling units on their property, or move into it and rent out their homes. The proposal earned a 6-5 favorable vote but needed to pass 8-3.

PROVINCETOWN --- In the wake of a story in which the Town of Truro was forced to choose between shutting down a motel for code violations or keeping it open for its year-round residents, reporter Katie Landeck writes that the affordable housing shortage is a math problem, where owners can make twice as much renting their homes to tourists than they can to year-round residents.