Housing Headlines

LYNN --- At a Rotary Club luncheon, the state's housing and economic development secretary said the Baker Administration has been hyper-focused on Lynn, noting that five percent of the $8.5 million in MassWorks infrastructure grants made the past two years have gone to the city.

A study that could lead to more multi-family housing outside traditional residential neighborhoods is underway in Falmouth, Eastham and Orleans, funded by a $100,000 grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

EASTHAM --- After hours of careful discussions with various stakeholders, the Eastham Community Preservation Committee voted to OK a spending plan for CPA funds that calls for 40 percent directed toward community housing and 30 percent to open space, with the remaining un-designated but with a preference for historical preservation or active recreation.

WEYMOUTH --- Mayor Robert Hedlund said he is meeting with a developer this week who is interested in making a massive investment in the sprawling 1,450 acre Union Point site but said LStar Ventures must first cut ties with its former managing partner, who has been accused in a lawsuit of misspending millions and meddling in the business after he was ousted.

QUINCY --- Despite issuing building permits for more than 2,500 new housing units since 2015, few if any are will be affordable to low- and moderate-income residents, even though the data shows that 40 percent of the city's residents could qualify for housing subsidies.

BRAINTREE --- One of the communities that is part of the Metro Mayors Coalition pledge to build 185,000 new housing units is redoing its zoning for the first time since the 1970s. The City of Braintree is using Nathan Kelly of the Horsley Witten Group to preserve the city's "quality of life" while enhancing it, according to Mayor Joseph Sullivan. Changes could include allowing six-story buildings in some districts and changes to districts to eliminate properties that straddle different zoning districts.