Housing Headlines

At a public hearing on Tuesday, Newton Upper Falls residents spoke out both in favor and in opposition of a proposed 22-acre project on Needham Street. Jay Walter of local community group "Livable Newton" spoke out in support of the project, while Leon Schwartz of "Rightsize Newton" questioned the scale of the project.

To help mitigate rising housing costs, city officials in Peabody are exploring a zoning overlay to produce more multifamily housing, with a particular emphasis on the area around the Northshore Mall. With City Council voicing support, the overlay is set for public hearings on April 18 and April 25. If approved, the overlay would raise the affordable housing requirement to 25% in the designated areas.

The debate around the proposed 10,000 unit development at Suffolk Downs continues to center around the number of affordable units that will be included. “Twenty percent affordable housing is something I’d like to see the developer get to us,” said Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards. In regard to that number, developer Thomas O'Brien argues, “And so we really we just can't see a way that we can make that math work.”

Citing its intent to “help reverse the legacy of housing discrimination,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer co-author a column praising presidential-hopeful Elizabeth Warren's American Housing and Economic Mobility Act.

Citing a just-released Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study which revealed that the state has twice as many extremely low-income households as apartments to put them in, the Eagle-Tribune says this should be a wake-up call for communities by asking, "how much worse does the state's affordable housing crisis have to get before communities are moved to act."

WESTON --- On the heels of hearing about a 180-unit housing proposal on Route 20 near the Wayland line, selectmen spent a second consecutive meeting learning about a housing proposal, this a 275-unit plan called Hanover Weston that would be built on Route 30 near the high school. All told, there are four housing proposals that are seeking Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permits. The other two are an 80- to 125-unit senior development at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary and 150 units at 104 Boston Post Road, which is currently under appeal.