Housing Headlines

NEWTON --- Consultant Judi Barrett, part of a team hired by Mayor Setti Warren to develop an affordable housing strategy didn't hold back at a public form recently, saying Newton’s ambiguous zoning code and politicized permitting process have created an unpredictable land use scheme that leads to long drawn out fights between developers and residents while not creating much new affordable housing for the city.

BILLERICA --- With waiting lists for local public housing at 10 years for families and three years for seniors, Billerica Housing Authority Executive Director Robert Correnti is asking the town about the possibility of creating more housing at the old Ditson School, which is now empty after the Middlesex County Sherriff's Office moved out.

SOMERVILLE --- City officials are rejecting a lawsuit alleging that the billion-dollar renewal of Union Square is illegal, and are looking to spend significant amounts to fight it and other Union Square-related lawsuits. The lawsuit, filed last year by Aliki Phishev, the title holder of 47 Webster St, and 10 other Somerville taxpayers argues that the state-approved plan for the area is full of properties that aren't dilapidated or blighted and thus don’t meet conditions required urban renewal.

EASTHAM --- The Eastham Affordable Housing Trust is considering a request by developer Richard Hayden of the Stratford Capital Group to contribute $800,000 in local Community Preservation Act funds to support a proposed 115-unit 'friendly 40B' affordable housing development on a former Rt. 6 driving range.

MATTAPAN --- About 60 residents attended a forum on gentrification recently, with a researcher from UMass Boston presenting facts and figures on the growing wealth gap in the city and places in the neighborhood where rising real estate values could drive existing resident out. Everyone agreed that Mattapan is at risk due to the new Fairmount Line, rent and tax increases, and vacant buildings that are primed for development.

SOMERVILLE --- During his inaugural address on Martin Luther King Day, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said he would be backing several recommendations put forth by the city's neighborhood working group, including one that would increase the city's inclusionary zoning standard from 12.5 to 20 percent affordable units for projects of six units or more.