Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- MHP's Foundation for Growth web site has posted excerpts from Northeastern's Barry Bluestone's Boston Globe blog. Bluestone argues that "seismic" demographic shifts will increase the demand for apartments, something most suburan towns aren't zoning for.

ANDOVER --- The Andover Community Trust is getting ready to pick a buyer for a permanently affordable three-bedroom home. It is the sixth home the trust has developed and the third affordable home that has been built for the trust by students at Greater Lawrence Technical High School. The home will be sold for $175,000 and preference will be given to first-time homebuyers. The trust already has a site under control to build a seventh affordable home.

BOSTON --- City officials are declaring that a program focused on improving the city's 9,000 three-deckers has been a success, pointing to figures that show more homeowners than investors are purchasing three-deckers. According to Department of Neighborhood Development chief Shiela Dillon, 51 percent of the three-deckers sold last year were bought by owner-occupants.

NEEDHAM --- The selectmen reiterated their commitment to affordable housing while at the same time voicing concern about the impact of a 300-unit Ch. 40B proposal for Greendale Avenue, which has received the necessary state approvals to bring the project before the town's zoning board of appeals.

HINGHAM - The town will now have to consider Avalon Bay's 177-unit Ch. 40B proposal after the state Housing Appeals Committee ruled that only 25 percent of the units at the Linden Ponds retirment community are affordable, keeping the town affordable unit count under the 10 percent necessary to deny 40B applications.

BOSTON --- The Citizen's Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) is kicking off a second phase of its Welcome Home campaign to promote affordable housing development with a technical assistance grant program that offers $2,500 grants to communities to help advance a specific development proposal or to promote a better environment for advancing an affordable housing agenda.