Housing Headlines

STATE --- Abundant Housing Massachusetts hosted its first Lobby Day on the steps of the State House. Advocates, community organizations, and lawmakers gathered to rally support for the Affordable Homes Act. Advocates attended meetings in the afternoon with their legislators seeking support for the legislation. The bill was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee in mid-April.

ERVING --- The town is one step closer to affordable housing on Care Drive after residents voted to authorize the Selectboard to lease, convey or otherwise dispose of the property eyed for the development. Voters at Annual Town Meeting also gave the Selectboard their blessing to work out the terms and conditions of an agreement it “deems to be in the best interest of the town.”

MARBLEHEAD --- Residents shot down new zoning rules that would make it easier to build multifamily housing and comply with the state’s MBTA Communities law. Applause erupted as Town Meeting rejected Article 36 on a 377-410 vote. In doing so, Marblehead pushed back against the state’s Dec. 31 deadline to adopt zoning changes under the MBTA Communities Act. Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin spoke at length about state grants Marblehead could lose by voting no.

STOCKBRIDGE --- The town’s Affordable Housing Trust Committee voted to accept a $1 million donation of 34 acres of open land off Glendale Middle Road. The intention of the gift, from Hans Morris, board chair and co-owner of The Berkshire Eagle, and his wife Kate, is to create affordable and workforce housing units on the site adjoining a municipal solar farm and a Verizon cell tower. But whether that land ultimately gets developed into affordable housing, and to what extent, remains in question.

SALEM --- Workforce housing is taking shape as the first major development in town begins to fill with occupants on Main Street with 74 units added.

BOSTON --- Beacon Communities has completed the renovation of Lenox Apartments, a 285-unit affordable housing community in the South End/Lower Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Lenox Apartments comprises 13 buildings and offers one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. The renovation was funded through a mix of state and federal housing and historic tax credits, as well as public and private loans.