Housing Headlines

PEABODY --- Developer Warren Innis has asked that the trigger for the 15 percent inclusionary zoning requirement in the city's single-family zone be raised from 15 to 30 units, which if approved, would make his proposed Stonegate project of 24 single family homes exempt from providing affordable units. The planning board OK"d the proposal, sending it to the city council for approval. One councilor expressed surprise that the planning board OK'd it and the developer proposed it for the entire city.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD --- The nonprofit Island Housing Trust has launched a Workforce Housing Partnership Initiative, collaborating with local businesses on a messaging campaign to build awareness about the fact that over 600 working Island families don't have stable year-round housing. Check out the web site and some of their ads.

NANTUCKET --- While saying they have nothing against affordable housing in theory, residents near a 64-unit housing proposal off Fairgrounds Road have appealed the planning board's OK in state Land Court.

WORCESTER --- City officials estimate approximately 60 to 80 families from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico are living in Worcester hotels, living from month to month on FEMA assistance. Reporter Bill Shaner talks to one of them, who went from Puerto Rico to Buffalo to Worcester, and now is waiting for her homeland to get back to normal so she can return.

BOSTON --- After four years of planning - which included a delay over what to do with historic buildings on the property - WinnCompanies and Brighton Marine Health Center have closed on $43 million in financing and are set to begin construction on a 102-unit apartment building for lower- and middle-income veterans at the health center's campus on Commonwealth Ave. in Brighton.

BOSTON --- The Pay for Success Initiative is looking to expand statewide after reporting that 92 percent of the 656 chronically homeless people it housed stayed in housing after one year. Pay for Success is a partnership which includes the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Santander Bank and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. Under the program, philanthropic groups paid upfront for services to house and help the homeless, and the state reimbursed them once the program was proven successful. Advocates say that in addition to keeping a high percentage of homeless housed, the program cut back on emergency room and hospital visits, saving the state about $2.2 million.