Housing Headlines

In the Jan. 30 annual "point in time" count of homeless people done for the federal government, the Cape and Islands showed 358 people living in shelters or other accommodations like motels, a 10 percent jump from 2017.

A Salem Superior Court judge has given a New Hampshire man and Lawrence landlord a $6,000 fine and three years probation for forging occupancy permits and de-leading certificates to obtain federal Section 8 money. Edward Bonaccorsi II pleaded guilty to six counts of forgery, six counts of uttering a forged record and five counts of procurement fraud. He owns 16 apartments in Lawrence.

BOSTON --- The city is looking at its polices for selling small "unbuildable" lots due to a loophole in the deed that allows owners who have abutting properties to use the open space to build a connected addition. According to the Dorchester Reporter, the city is now looking at how it monitors and sells off such parcels after a Fields Corner resident questioned how a modest 2,700 square foot three-family could build a 3,000 square foot addition on land previously believed to be open space. Over 400 of these small open space parcels were sold by the city from the early 1990s until 2002.

BILLERICA --- The town's efforts to revitalize the Middlesex Turnpike area took a major step forward as the zoning board of appeals OK'd a "friendly" Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit, allowing Alliance Residential to proceed with building a 200-unit mixed-income apartment complex on a site where an office building has been vacant for eight years. The project will be built under the state's Local Initiative Program, which encourages affordable housing by providing assistance to communities and developers who are working together. When complete, the project is expected to net $218,400 in tax revenues.

WORCESTER --- MassDevelopment has issued an $8.2 million tax-exempt bond to help support the renovation and modernization of Abby's House, an apartment building which provides 53 single-room apartments for women who need of financial and emotional support. The 100-year-old building on High St. is one of four that the nonprofit operates in the city. All told, it offers 70 single-room apartments and seven two-bedroom apartments.

BELLINGHAM --- Faced with over 30 abandoned houses, the town has used a state Attorney General's office program to bring 17 homes up to code. In some cases, a letter from the AG's office motivated the owner to clean up the property. In one case, the AG''s office went through the receivership process. The non-profit Worcester Community Housing Resources was appointed as receiver and fixed up the home so it can be sold at auction and put back on the tax roll. "We’ve done over 300 of these in Worcester County," said Dominick Marcigliano, WCHR's executive director. “For the most part, the houses end up in the hands of a responsible owner.”