Housing Headlines

CHELMSFORD --- At town meeting, voters passed by a two-third majority a measure that would allow inclusionary zoning in two overlay districts - the town center and commercially zoned areas. Developers will be asked to make 20 percent of units affordable or make payments into a housing fund.

SANDWICH --- The buyer of an affordable home in a mixed-income Ch. 40B homeownership development is locked in a battle with the town over whether she can sell her home at any price, a waiver the town gave her after she agreed to reduce the number of bedrooms from three to two so she could lower her septic system costs.

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?