Housing Headlines

REVERE --- One week before being ousted by 117 votes by City Councilor Brian Arrigo, Mayor Dan Rizzo called for a moratorium on any residential building projects over two units, saying he was reacting to concerns from residents about too much residential development.

WORCESTER - A federal judge has struck down two city anti-panhandling ordinances as unconstitutional, reversing his earlier ruling in light of a recent Supreme Court decision and decisions striking down similar ordinances in Lowell and Maine.

BOSTON --- In a Sunday editorial, the Boston Globe reasons its fine to have affordability requirements for luxury housing but those same requirements inhibit the construction of housing in working class neighborhoods. The Globe argues that affordable requirements should be reduced or eliminated in these neighborhoods, which would promote more new housing and take the pressure off three deckers and traditional housing for families.

AMESBURY --- The city has been utilizing the state Attorney General's receivership program to address blighted properties. Since 2014, the city has worked with the AG to move on eight properties. Thus far, the program has compelled four owners to fix their properties, two are in receivership and two are in court.

SUDBURY --- Concerns over more cars and more school children have caused the Board of Selectmen to decline support of local developer Chris Clausson's plan to pursue a Ch. 40B permit to build 250 units on 39 acres, one of two the town is expected to have to consider in the coming months.

BOSTON --- Governing Magazine takes a look at housing prices in Boston - where triple decker prices are up 85 percent and median rents are up 13.2 percent annually - and asks whether the millennials who have flocked here can afford to stay here?