Housing Headlines

DORCHESTER, Monday, June 10, 2013 - Governor Deval Patrick today kicked-off Commonwealth Housing Week by announcing a new compact that creates a goal of providing 10,000 mortgage loans to first-time homebuyers over the next five years. The Home Ownership Compact includes a commitment among lenders to originate a specific number of mortgage loans to first-time home buyers with household incomes below the area median income through the Massachusetts Housing Partnership's ONE Mortgage Program and the homeownership programs of MassHousing.

FRAMINGHAM --- Beacon Communities recently purchased for $22 million the 180-unit Edmands House Apartments - a Section 8 affordable complex on the north side of Framingham.

LOWELL --- Excavators will soon start digging up earth at River's Edge to create more roads and homes after the state announced $1.5 million in new funding for the 180-unit affordable-housing project off Gorham Street near the Chelmsford line. The state support was well received by community leaders who have labored for years to replace the decaying Julian D. Steele public housing project.

NEWTON ---Six different groups have submitted mixed-use development proposals for the Austin Street parking lot that could pump millions of dollars into a site the city has deemed surplus. Each proposal complied with the city's demands for the site, including the inclusion of 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor and at least 18 housing units - 25 percent of which must be affordable units. The parking lot is across from Shaw's Super Market, which overhangs the Mass Pike.

WORCESTER - City officials are going after five nonprofit housing groups to recoup up to $3.7 million in federal housing funds that they say were spent on items ineligible for federal reimbursement, but one CDC official said the city administration has distorted and exaggerated the federal concerns because it is directing its housing strategy away from affordable housing.

AMHERST --- Selectmen have voted 3-1 in favor of a town meeting warrant that would ask voters to appropriate funds to buy and preserve the affordability of Echo Village Apartments, which stands to lose 24 affordable units if the new owners go through with their plans to raise rents to market levels.