Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Despite developer Terry Bruce’s assurances that she and her business partner, Mordechai Levin, are doing their best to make the apartments affordable to middle-class people, residents pushed for cheaper apartments and more affordable-housing units than the 25 percent proposed for the 44-unit proposal at 3353 Washington St.

NEWTON --- Mayor Setti Warren today outlined an ambitious housing plan for the city that pinpointed seven sites for development and said the effort will not only provide diverse housing options, but will help preserve the characteristics and values Newton has embodied.

GRAFTON --- About 30 residents of the North Grafton neighborhood known as Creeper Hill packed a selectmen's meeting to voice concerns over a developer's plan to apply to the town for a Ch. 40B permit so he can build 54 rental units on 2.5 acres. Residents argued the project would exacerbate traffic problems off of Route 140, lower property values, present a danger to children playing in the ball field and harm the semi-rural aesthetic character of the town.

QUINCY --- With one city councilor saying "we don't want our children to leave town," several city councilors say Mayor Thomas Koch must commit to creating more affordable housing in Quincy Center before they’ll support his new plan for downtown revitalization. As it stands now, downtown developers are exempt from the city's inclusionary zoning bylaw that requires that 10 percent of the units in any new housing development be affordable. The Koch Administration worries that adding an affordability component could scare developers away.

ARLINGTON --- With spring town meeting having passed two mixed-use bylaws for portions of Mass. Ave and Broadway, the town is now planning to issue a Request for Proposal seeking a buyer for the former Disabled American Vets building at 1207 Mass. Ave.

WALTHAM --- Using a $600,000 grant from the Boston Foundation, three Boston nonprofits are teaming up to bring a focused set of services to 90 homeless families living in a Waltham Hotel, hoping that a concentrated effort will help these families find housing and a more healthy living situation.