Housing Headlines

WESTMINSTER --- The town is thrilled with its request for proposals to develop senior housing behind the senior center as four experienced developers have stepped forward with bids. Responding to the RFP are NewVue Communities of Fitchburg, Commonwealth Community Developers of Cambridge, SCG Development of Peabody, and Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, Inc. of East Boston. The land behind the senior center is estimated to be suitable for up to 50 apartments and the town is indicating at least 25 percent of the homes should be affordable below 80 percent of area median income.

WESTPORT --- After many years of trying to get it done, it was a proud day for the Westport Affordable Housing Trust Fund and other local leaders as they came together for a tour of Noquochoke Village, a 50-unit affordable housing development built on town land by the Community Builders, a national affordable housing developer based in Boston. (Note: MHP supported this town-initiated development early and late with pre-development technical assistance and a $1.4 million long-term loan commitment).

BOSTON --- Saying that rising rents are disproportionately forcing Roxbury renters to move out, City Councilor Kim Janey is advocating for a city-funded voucher program as a response to gentrification and displacement in her district. Janey is proposing that the new program be funded by higher taxes on luxury condos.

For the second year in a row, the Hyannis-based Housing Assistance Corp. and the Outer Cape's Community Development Partnership are teaming up to offer the Cape Housing Institute, a series of workshops aimed at providing municipal officials throughout the Cape with the support, tools, and resources to boost affordable housing development in their communities.

SUDBURY --- Selectmen have voted to accept Sudbury native Chris Claussen's proposal to develop a 46.6 acre town-owned site on the Concord line in exchange for 40 acres in the town center that Claussen has not been able to develop due to a town lawsuit. The decision, which is subject to a Town Meeting vote, clears the way for Claussen and his Quarry North LLC to develop the so-called Melone property - a former gravel pit - into 225 mixed-income apartments and 24 age-restricted market-rate apartments, the same proposal he had been making for the downtown proposal, known as Sudbury Station. Claussen grew up in Sudbury and is now a developer, primarily in Florida.

PROVINCETOWN --- With the acquisition and process of converting the bankrupt Harbor Hill time share into 26 affordable apartments, Town Manager Dave Pangore and other town groups are now setting its sights on generating more affordable housing at the old VFW site and the former police station.