Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- The nonprofit Hyde Square Task Force said it expects to soon complete a deal to buy the vacant, 96-year-old Blessed Sacrament church in Jamaica Plain so it can use the building for community space, while blocking an alternative, controversial proposal to convert the church into pricey condos.

WORCESTER - A Shrewsbury man has been presenting himself as the landlord of two large Worcester apartment buildings for nearly a year - collecting thousands of dollars a month in rental income - despite having never made a single payment on the mortgage, property taxes or water and sewer bills, according to court records.

BOSTON --- Corcoran Jennison's proposal to build 184 units on Columbia Point aimed at young professionals has received the go-ahead from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city's planning and development agency. The "University Place Residences" project, at the corner where Day Boulevard and Mt. Vernon Street meet, will reach six stories, the same level as the office building next to it, and include a mix of housing: 67 studio apartments, 73 one-bedroom apartments, and 44 two-bedroom apartments. There will be 24 affordable housing units.

NEW BEDFORD --- In their continuing public debate as to whether the city should decrease or increase its public housing supply, Mayor Jon Mitchell criticized Housing Authority Director Steve Beauregard for lobbying against the mayor's recent appointment of local lawyer Robert Schilling to replace Rev. Leona Fisher on the housing authority board. Mitchell, who has said he does not want to increase public housing, said Beauregard "doesn't get to pick his bosses" while Beauregard argued that Fisher should have been reappointed because 72 percent of the authority's households are headed by minority single mothers and Fisher is a woman of color.

ASHLAND --- Selectman got their first look at a developer's plan to build 140 rental apartments near the Ashland Middle School. Capital Group Properties is planning to seek a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit from the town to construct four buildings that would include 74 one-bedroom and 66 two-bedroom apartments.

WEST BOYLSTON --- Hoping to control growth and ward off unwanted apartment developments, the town has submitted an affordable housing plan to the state which if approved would give the town more control over growth if it can create 14 units of affordable housing each year for the next five years.