Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- A group that specializes in creating housing for the elderly is proposing a 54-unit apartment building at 16 Ronald St., which is just off the Columbia Road-Geneva Ave intersection in Dorchester. Hearth, Inc. has filed plans with the BPDA (formerly the BRA) for a $17.6-million building, to be called the Hearth at Four Corners, that would have 52 one-bedroom apartments and two studios for people 62 or older who make no more than 60 percent of the Boston area median income.

HINGHAM --- Five months after town meetings gave the go-ahead for an assisted living development on the town-owned Beal Street parcel, selectmen pulled the plug and will now seek the town's OK to seek a developer to build 100 units of family housing for all ages. Selectmen cited several reasons for their reversal, one being the developer who was hoping to build elderly housing was going to ask the town to kick in local funds to help support the project.

BOSTON --- The city’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) will make more than $14 million in funds available to qualified housing projects this month as part of a push to create more affordable housing in Boston. The funds will be awarded via a pair of competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) that are now accessible on the city’s website.

MEDWAY --- The town's planning and economic development board is discussing plans that would promote the redevelopment of two vacant lots on Main Street into 10 townhouses, which would be permissible under the town's new multi-family overlay district that as approved at Town Meeting in May.

WORCESTER --- Even though the idea of creating a sanctioned homeless camp is now off the table, City Manager Edward Augustus plans to provide a comprehensive report on ways the city can address homelessness and the numerous camps spread throughout the city.

AMHERST --- Business leaders gathered for a policy discussion about Amherst's downtown recently and the consensus was the town center needs new zoning that would encourage a more "Northampton-like" vibrancy with a better mix of businesses, housing and restaurants.