Housing Headlines

TRURO --- At Town Meeting, voters OK'd the acquisition of four free parcels of land from the state near the intersection of Highland Road and Rt. 6. The town plans to use the land for affordable housing.

LITTLETON --- Despite protests from residents urging the town to buy the entire property, the Board of Selectmen voted in favor of a Host Community Agreement that will allow for the sale of the Couper Farm to developers who will preserve 22 of the 34 acres and develop the remaining land into no more than 23 dwellings that will include a 12-unit rental project with four affordable units.

EASTHAM --- A few days before a Town Meeting vote on whether to buy a Rt. 6 site, a developer who currently has an option to acquire and develop the site announced he is scaling back his plans from 115 units on 10 acres to 50 units on five acres of the former golf driving range.

With Cambridge and Lexington having passed laws to make it easier for single-family home owners to create accessory apartments, Boston Globe columnist Dante Ramos looks at how this long tradition of carving out modest apartments within homes may help ease the housing crunch.

AMHERST --- As behavior of some homeless people in downtown raises concerns, Town Meeting will soon be asked to vote on a measure that would OK $150,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to be used by a local agency to provide housing and services to five homeless people.

BROCKTON – The Brockton City Council voted narrowly to recommend the passage of the Urban Revitalization Plan, which would expand the city's current Chapter 40R smart growth district to other areas near the downtown train station that the city would like to see redeveloped.