Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Stating that managing its building has become a distraction from its core mission, Boston's YWCA is putting its 13-story building on Clarendon Street in the Back Bay up for sale. Renovated in 2000 due in part to a loan from MHP, the building features 118 apartments - 79 affordable - as well as a variety of other mixed uses, including the Lyric Stage Theater and the Snowden International public high school. Due to terms of the financing, the affordable housing will remain for approximately 30 years.

NEW YORK --- Calling his choice as "someone with the guts to make changes," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that former Cambridge Housing Authority boss Greg Russ has been picked to lead the embattled New York City Housing Authority, which houses nearly 400,000 people in 316 housing developments. Russ left Cambridge several years ago and has been running the housing authority in Minneapolis.

On one hand, cities like Newton continue to weigh each proposal to add multifamily housing, especially near public transit. Meanwhile, the Legislature continues to weigh on Housing Choice, a proposal to lower the threshold for local zoning reform. And in between the two, Amy Dain's latest report ties it all together -- the state of multifamily housing in Greater Boston.

"Another report on the state of the Massachusetts real-estate market, another conclusion that stakeholders already know: Most commonwealth communities aren't willing to produce enough affordable housing units to meet the burgeoning demand," writes The Lowell Sun in an editorial on Amy Dain's new multifamily housing report.

From density restrictions to parking requirements and approval processes, Amy Dain's new multifamily housing report pinpoints the mechanisms used by municipalities across Greater Boston to avoid creating multifamily housing. The result, according to Curbed, is "an already dismal housing situation...that will only worsen as baby boomers age."

AMHERST --- Armed with data collected from similar projects and a petition with almost 50 signatures, residents near a proposed housing development for low-income individuals have won a delay as the town's Finance Committee has delayed a vote on using town funds for the project until a community meeting can be held.