Housing Headlines

NEWTON --- In his ongoing reporting of tear downs, Jonathan Dame reports that the city issued 105 permits for full home demolition permits in 2016 (including 12 two-family homes) and has averaged 97 the past three years, which is up from an average of 46 from 2006-2010. Dame also reports that roughly half of the teardowns took place in just six of the city's 32 precincts, encompassing all of Oak Hill, the section of Newton Highlands south of Route 9, parts of Waban, and West Newton south of the Mass. Pike.

STOCKBRIDGE --- Over 100 residents packed a Planning Board meeting to criticize zoning changes that would allow the owners to develop of one of the town's remaining "cottage" mansion properties into a 209-unit mixed use development that would include a hotel, condos and single-family homes on 320 acres. One resident called the zoning proposal "carpetbagger-enabling amendments" that would grant "expanded rights" to developers.

BOSTON --- East Boston's Neighborhood of Affordable Housing recently closed on over $26 million in financing that will allow for the construction of Coppersmith Village, a 71-unit mixed income development that will feature 56 apartments and 15 for-sale townhouses on the former site of an ironworks company. Thirty-four of the 56 apartments will be affordable and three of the townhouses will be sold to households at or below 80 percent of area median income.

Increasingly, MetroWest towns are looking for ways to bring life back to downtowns and that often includes housing that attracts millennials and seniors seeking walkable neighborhoods. This is especially true in Natick and Framingham, where the Worcester-Boston commuter rail has stops.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD --- About 25 residents attended a third and final housing production plan workshop recently and provided input on possible strategies to boost the island's supply of affordable housing. Among the ideas gaining traction are zoning changes to allow for increased density, cost sharing among towns, creation of a “housing bank,” taxing seasonal rentals, increasing Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for housing, building dormitories for seasonal workers, and seeking state subsidies for enhanced wastewater treatment systems.

FALMOUTH --- The Zoning Board of Appeals continued to hear input on a Ch. 40B proposal by The Falmouth Housing Corp. and Affirmative Investments to build 40 units of affordable housing on 11 acres that the town purchased with $3 million in CPA funds in 2010.