Housing Headlines

YARMOUTH --- Residents in the unfinished Mill Pond development have been left with the job of collecting condo fees and paying for the operation of a wastewater treatment plant after the developers defaulted on the project. Only 61 of the 136 townhouse condominiums were built when the economy stalled the project.

FALMOUTH --- With funding that included federal low-income tax credits and local CPA funds, Bob Murray and the Falmouth Housing Corp. have completed and rented all 39 units in a $10 million affordable housing project for seniors on the site of the town's former VFW hall.

SPRINGFIELD -The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded Springfield a $300,000 "Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant" that will target housing improvements in the city's South End. The city and housing authority applied for the funds and hope to use it to support new market rate housing, demolition and substantial rehabilitation of existing housing stock, and construction of a new community center and a new early childhood education center. According to HUD, four times as many crimes are committed in this neighborhood compared to the rest of the city and 42 percent of the residents live below the poverty line.

WATERTOWN --- With 600 apartments approved and 220 more units proposed for nearby Waltham Street, some town leaders are worried that they aren't seeing the balanced development they had hoped for three years ago when they created the Pleasant Street Corridor District, whch lies just north of and parallel to the Charles River near the Newton and Waltham lines.

QUINCY --- For the second time in four years, the National Community Development Association (NCDA) has recognized the City of Quincy for outstanding work in affordable housing and neighborhood redevelopment. This time, the city is getting an award for supporting the rehabilitation of a church into five units of affordable housing for low-income and at-risk families.

HANOVER --- The town will send a letter to the Cardinal Cushing Centers voicing displeasure at being excluded from information about the sale of its 150-unit rental apartment building for low-income seniors to Evergreen Partners. The town is concerned about whether affordability will be preserved and felt it should have been told of the sale sooner since it granted the necessary zoning permits to allow the housing to be built back in 1981.