Housing Headlines

DORCHESTER --- This past summer, the Hendry Street Neighborhood Watch held a block party to commemorate its activities and the neighborhood's success at revitalizing foreclosed and distressed properties. (Note: MHP missed this story when it was published on July 28 but felt we should bring it to your attention. The story includes a video about the neighborhood, once referred to by the Boston Herald as "ground zero" for foreclosures in Boston).

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.

EASTON --- Local officials are hoping that the redevelopment of the historic Ames shovel factory into 113 apartments will trigger downtown growth. The project, expected to begin construction on Feb. 1, includes a wastewater treatment plant and a sewer district that will cover the village business district.

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.

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.

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.