Housing Headlines

FALMOUTH --- The company that originally proposed a hotel and then came back with a 104-unit Ch. 40B housing proposal for Main Street had its first hearing in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals recently, with 50 residents in the room asking about seasonal rental policies, pool and play area amenities, health and traffic.

PEABODY --- School crowding, flooding, public safety and building design are among the concerns voiced by city departments over a proposal by Larkin Real Estate Inc. to apply for a Ch. 40B permit to build 80 apartments on the Elks Lodge site. To be called the Residences at O'Shea Field, the project would be near the Welch Elementary School, which the town says is already overcrowded.

NATICK --- After noticing families hanging out in the parking lot of a motel, Boston photographer Belinda Soncini decided to document the lives of homeless families living in motels and her photo exhibit is now on display at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham.

LAWRENCE --- A blighted lot at 314 Haverhill Streetwill soon be occupied by four first-time homebuyers thanks to the Bread & Roses community land trust, which bought the property and redeveloped it with support from the City of Lawrence and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp.

PROVINCETOWN - Prompted by town Housing Specialist and past MHP Housing Hero Award winner Michelle Jarusiiwicz, the Provincetown Housing Authority has stepped in to purchase three affordable one-bedroom condos at the Grace Gouveia building, ending a two-year dispute between the Community Development Partnership (CDP) and developer New Ventures/26 Alden Street LLC.

BOSTON --- Several big projects recently approved by the Boston Planning Development Agency promise to bring more than 1,100 apartments to Roxbury, but neighborhood leaders are calling these and other smaller projects a "mixed bag" as they would like to see more affordable apartments coming to an area where 75 percent of the residents are said to make less than $50,000 a year.