Housing Headlines

SALEM --- Two changes aimed at making the city's new accessory bylaw more effective faced criticism during a recent joint public meeting of the City Council and Planning Board. Residents who spoke said Mayor Kim Driscoll's proposal to eliminate the owner-occupied requirement and to allow the construction of stand-alone accessory units would favor developers and goes against the law's original intent to give senior homeowners a way to gain income from their "empty-nest" properties.

Policy and planning expert Amy Dain says the state's new MBTA multifamily zoning requirement will test whether communities will be willing to build new multifamily housing in existing neighborhoods or continue their history of locating it in isolated areas on municipal and metropolitan peripheries.

HYANNIS --- A plan to turn a 40-acre Hyannis golf course into over 300 rental homes has stirred an intense local debate, with neighbors questioning its enviromental impact and some environmentalists saying that multifamily is better than single-family sprawl and golf courses that use chemicals to maintain their grounds.

WORCESTER --- The city's housing authority has published a request for proposals from developers to rebuild the Lakeside public housing development. The RFP is seeking bids on a project that would replace the 202 existing units with 250 units, add more units for households between 60 and 80 percent of median income and possibly add market rate units as well.

SPRINGFIELD --- Thanks to early financing from the state, Friends of the Homeless are moving forward on its plans to redevelop the former 5th Alarm exoctic dance nighclub into 36 supportive apartments for the formerly homeless. The $17 million dollar project has received $400,000 in pre-development funding from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp. "“With this funding, it’s more likely other agencies where we have applied for funding will look favorably on our application,” said William Miller, vice president of housing and homeless services for Clinical & Support Options, the parent company of Friends of the Homeless.

BOSTON --- In an effort to draw interest in the redevelopment of city-owned lots, the City of Boston held an open house on Sat. Nov. 19 to gather community input and ideas to inform how 70 city-owned lots can be redeveloped. Most of these lots are north and south of Talbot Ave and are part of a city effort to use federal recovery funds to redevelop 150 city-owned parcels.