Housing Headlines

IPSWICH --- At a selectmen's meeting last month, many residents lined up to speak against a housing proposal by longtime resident Frank Bruni. Bruni is seeking a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit from the town in order to redevelop his Bruni Market Place property into 194 apartments, 49 of which would be affordable to households at or below 80 percent of area median income. Resident expressed concerns over the size of the project, the level of affordability, municipal impacts and having so much affordable housing in the same part of town. (Note: In order to submit a 40B application to the town, developers are required to seek a Project Eligibility Letter (PEL) from a state housing finance organization. The developer has requested a PEL from MHP).

AMHERST --- Town Meeting approved a small change in its zoning which will allow for smaller units, another step in the town's support for the non-profit Valley CDC to develop to build a single-room apartment development for area residents transitioning out of homelessness.

BARNSTABLE --- After the Housing Assistance Corporation of Cape Cod when she was working three jobs and raising two children, Nancy Davison joined the organization and devoted 29 years to helping hundreds of Cape Codders find homes.

HAMILTON --- Following its news coverage of the intense push back from residents about three sites the town had put forth for affordable housing, an editorial in the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle urged residents to cool rhetoric that went "beyond the pale," especially a speaker who reportedly called "into question the value system of other people just based upon their income level."

MILFORD ---- A longtime developer is proposing to work with the town on a "friendly 40B" land use permit for 156 apartments that would help the town get closer to 10 percent. Kevin Lobisser, who has been in town for 47 years, said he wants to go the "friendly 40B" route because, "I’m not interested in shocking the town.”

CONCORD --- Even though Concord has achieved greater control over affordable housing proposals because 10 percent of its housing is affordable, the town wants to do more, voting recently at Town Meeting to form a committee that would raise money and seek other strategies to build more affordable housing. "Before all the small houses in Concord