Housing Headlines

DORCHESTER --- More than 100 people filled Codman Square's Great Hall recently to hear how community land trusts like the well-established Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative could be used to help provide more affordable housing in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury.

WELLFLEET — The town’s effort to add three houses on Old Kings Highway to its meager stock of affordable dwellings has hit another roadblock: four abutters filed a new lawsuit on April 15 appealing the zoning board of appeals’ March 30 decision to grant a comprehensive permit for the project. Habitat for Humanity seeks to build three affordable single-family homes on 2.8 acres designated by the town for that purpose.

SOMERVILLE --- According to the Somerville Community Corp., the Land Use Committee of the Board of Alderman voted on Tuesday May 3 to send an inclusionary zoning proposal to the full Board of Alderman for a possible vote at this Monday's meeting. The committee voted not to exempt Assembly Row from the new requirement.

NEEDHAM --- Town Meeting approved a special overlay district for a northern Highland Ave. commercial area near the Newton line that would allow mixed use and up to 250 units of multifamily housing.

FRAMINGHAM --- Town Meeting approved an overhaul of the town's 2004 affordable housing inclusionary bylaw. The new changes require that developers include affordable housing in their projects and eliminates the option that allowed developers to provide a cash payment or build affordable housing elsewhere. Town official explained the change is being made so the town can avoid creating concentrated pockets of affordable housing.

NEW BEDFORD --- Two long-standing transitional housing programs for the chronically homeless are now struggling to keep their doors open after failing to secure federal grants they have been counting on for years. Instead, a second round of HUD funding through its Continuum of Care program went to a permanent supportive housing program called Prism. A HUD spokesman said permanent housing is being prioritized because it is more effective at ending homelessness.