Housing Headlines

Recent fires at apartment building construction sites built with wood are cause for alarm but Boston Globe columnist Renee Loth opines that public officials and the development industry shouldn't overreact because wood is key to the state's efforts to increase housing production.

WORCESTER --- With $22.5 million in state financing, Beacon Communities will buy, rehabilitate and preserve the affordability of Stratton Park Apartments, a 156-unit apartment building near Route 190 and the Holden town line.

NEWBURYPORT --- The Planning Board is reviewing three proposed zoning changes aimed protecting certain historic city neighborhoods from over development while also contemplating another rmeasure that would require multifamily developments to have 12 percent of the units be affordable. The "downzoning" changes would prevent the creation of multifamily housing in existing structures and empty lots in two areas of the city. "We support the concept of down-zoning historic neighborhoods so that multifamily housing can't be created from historic buildings or in vacant lots," said one member of the town's historic trust. "We've seen open space being taken away and crowded space become more crowded ... . We think those housing additions are both hurting the quality of life in our historic neighborhoods and are hurting the city's historic character."

WEST TISBURY --- The Island Housing Trust gathered with state and local officials recently to celebrate the groundbreaking of Scott's Grove, a nine-unit affordable housing effort to be built next to a fire station and a baseball field. The development is receiving $900,000 in state funds from a new Baker Administration program aimed at supporting small-scale housing developments.The project is also receiving $1.4 million in local Community Preservation Act funds. “One of the things I use to measure how badly people want things is how much of your money are you willing to spend because I know how much of (the state's money) you’re willing to spend,” said Chrystal Kornegay, director of the state's Department of Housing and Community Development. “Out here, you guys put up your money, put up your land, put up your time, put up your effort. So we’re just so excited to be here and help you bring this whole thing together.”

LEXINGTON --- The state's Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation has approved a $341,500 loan to help the non-profit Women's Institute preserve the affordability of Pine Grove Village, an affordable condominium project built in 1976. Under the terms of the new financing, five of the 16 units to be affordable to low-income families, with the remaining units affordable to moderate-income families.

QUINCY --- Father Bill's president and CEO John Yazwinski is thinking of reducing the number of beds at its Broad Street headquarters by half to 50 or 60 and using the rest of the space to set up a resource center that would be focused on getting people into housing before they come homeless. He said that Father Bill’s right now does a good job of placing many of the chronically homeless into various apartments that the shelter owns or operates, but the majority of people sleeping at the shelter just need a bed for just week or two to get back on their feet.