Housing Headlines

WELLESLEY --- A state review has found that the Wellesley and Needham housing authorities - who have a management sharing agreement - have been lax in screening tenants, with files missing such things as eligibility forms, background checks and rent determinations. The state also found that in at least one occasion, tenants were housed who were not at the top of the waiting list and some tenants were paying zero rent without having any income or asset verification done.

PITTSFIELD ---To help homeowners with exterior renovations, Mayor Linda Tyler has proposed $250,000 in city funds to start a program in which the city would partner with local banks to provide zero-interest home improvement loans. The program, called At Home in Pittsfield, would help residents who make no more than $87,480 annually and who own — or are looking to own — owner-occupied residences with no more than four residential units.

LOWELL --- The number of students who are living in shelters, with other families or on the street has risen according to a report from the Lowell Public Schools, The school department is reporting that five percent (825 students) fall into one of these three categories as of March 1 and that 982 homeless students have been enrolled since the start of the year, a 20 percent increase over last year.

SALEM --- Right after the city council failed to deliver a two-thirds majority vote that would allow vacant religious and city buildings to be converted to housing, arguments among councilors ensued and one councilor - Beth Gerard - filed a motion to reconsider, which means the proposal will again be up for a vote when the council meets again in mid-March.

SAUGUS --- Due to the discovery of an endangered species known as the Spotted Tiger Beetle, Toll Brothers Apartment Living is redesigning its 300-unit Saugus Ridge Ch. 40B housing proposal, saying the 28-acre site will no longer be leveled and the building will be in a new location to preserve ledges that have been determined to be the habitat for the beetle.

LAWRENCE --- Three years after Mayor Dan Rivera floated the idea, the city council has changed requirements for residential buildings with more than three apartments, voting 6-3 to require owners to register at City Hall and have each unit inspected every three years by building, health and sanitary code inspectors. The bill replaces a law that requires the inspections at least every five years.