Housing Headlines

In an opinion piece for Commonwealth Magazine, two nonprofit leaders 2 charged with helping state deliver rent assistance address "myths" about slow spending, long application process, denial rates & poor outreach. In setting up their myth-busting argument, Stefanie Coxe of the Regional Housing Network and Chris Norris of Metro Housing Boston note that Massachusetts is fourth in the US in rent assistance spending and has helped over 40,000 households avoid eviction.

NEWTON --- The Newton City Council voted 23-0 to approve some changes to the Riverside MBTA station mixed-use development proposal that it approved last year. The changes include substituting two life science buildings for a hotel and office tower. The number of apartments will drop from 582 to 550, 44 of which will be affordable to households earning 50 percent of area median income and 44 for households at 80 percent AMI. The project includes almost $9 million in community improvements for schools, neighborhoods, walking trails and sewers.

SALISBURY --- Two state legislators have field a petition on behalf of the town that would transfer a little more than a half an acre of land to the town's affordable housing trust. State Rep. Jim Kelcourse & state Sen. Diana DiZoglio filed the petition, which would, if approved, would convey the land to the trust so it can decide how to use it to increase the town's supply of affordable housing.

LYNN --- It took five years but it looks like the City of Lynn has finally found someone to redevelop the Thurgood Marshall Middle School as the School Committee has voted to convey it to the city to it can be sold to the East Boston Community Development Corp. According to the agreement, the CDC would pay the city $2.5 million to the city and spend $8 million demolishing the school so it can build affordable senior housing.

BOSTON --- State officials say an increase in rental assistance combined with mediation programs have resulted in fewer evictions than before the pandemic. Parallel to state and federal eviction moratoriums that have expired, the state has crafted another safety net - almost $1 billion in state and federal funds for rent assistance and a law requiring a judge to delay any eviction case where rental assistance is pending. This has resulted in monthly eviction averages dropping by over a thousand a month, state officials say.

WILLIAMSTOWN --- A tremendous sense of satisfaction was in the air as local leaders gathered recently to celebrate the completion of Cole Ave. Apartments on an industrial site that has been vacant since 1989. Developed by Berkshire Housing Development Corp., the modern four-story building features 42 affordable apartments and symbolizes the town's gradual awakening to the need for more housing. “Many local employees just can’t afford the cost of housing,” said Elton Ogden, longtime president of Berkshire Housing. “In the past few years, there has been a realization that the town needs housing people can afford.”