Housing Headlines

SUDBURY - After getting the developer Robert Moss to pare his 120-apartment Johnson Farm 40B development down to 58 townhouses, the Zoning Board of Appeals is now indicating it would like to see the project cut to 56 units.

SOMERVILLE --- A resident group called "Union Square Rising" is continuing to protest plans by the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) to knock down the former Boys & Girls Club on Washington Street and replace it with a five-story building featuring 40 units of affordable housing. Residents have circulated a petition stating that the site should be used differently while SCC Executive Director Danny LeBlanc said affordable housing is needed now before the MBTA's Green Line Extenstion drives up housing prices in the neighborhood.

SALEM --- After many discussions with the city, Salem's historical society (HSI) has agreed to drop its lawsuit to stop the redevelopment of the St. Joseph's Church property. The agreement, signed recently in Mayor Kim Driscoll's office, gives HSI a more defined role determining how the property will be developed. The developer, the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, said work will start in six to eight weeks. POUA plans to demolish the 61-year-old church and construct a four-story building with 51 apartments, retail space and a community meeting area.

BEVERLY --- A single-family affordable home that had fallen on hard times is about to go back on the market thanks to the combined efforts of the Beverly Affordable Housing Coalition and the North Shore Habitat for Humanity.

SPRINGFIELD --- In May, the city council approved three zoning changes that are key to developer Gordon Pulsifer's plans to do a $75 million renovation of 22 apartment buildings and 315 rental units in the Hollywood section of the city's South End. The city hopes that Pulsifer can do the same thing for this neighborhood that he did in the Upper Worthington Histric District, where his First Resources company renovated 27 buildings and 445 apartmetns. The improvements have reduced crime in the area, city officials say.

HYANNIS --- By focusing on investing in services that provide housing, a case worker and supervision in a supportive environment, homeless organizations say they are beginning to make progress in reducing the number of chronically homeless people on the Cape.