Housing Headlines

WORCESTER --- Worcester should soon be able to offer 90 more affordable housing units in what used to be a hotel, thanks to almost $2 million in federal aid. Worcester Community Housing Resources announced it has received $1.6 million in federal funds to convert a former Quality Inn & Hotel Suites at 50 Oriol Drive in Worcester into permanent supportive housing for homeless people.

BOURNE --- A new housing complex proposed for the site of the historic Keene House in Bourne Village will request Community Preservation Act funding at next month’s Annual Town Meeting to get the 32-unit project underway. The development, proposed for the site of the historic home at 9 Sandwich Road, will seek $80,000 in CPA funds.

GREENFIELD --- Using CPA funds, the Community Preservation Committee has voted in favor of funding the entire $50,000 request for a downtown affordable housing development and the entire $15,000 request from Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity to build an affordable, all-electric one-bedroom home at 184 Petty Plain Road.

LINCOLN --- At one of the longest and most controversial town meetings in recent history, voters on March 23 narrowly approved the Housing Choice Act zoning amendments by a margin of 52% to 48%. The amendment “is not a major change” for the Lincoln Woods and Lincoln Road subdistricts and it “addresses people’s greatest concerns” about commercial space at the mall, said Jonathan Soo, a leader of a citizens’ group that pushed for passage.

BOSTON --- As some communities push back on the MBTA Communities law, advocates say it's a critical step toward increasing development. Luc Schuster, executive director of the Boston Indicators Research Center at the Boston Foundation, argues everyone is making a bigger deal out of the law than is warranted. "The way the law is written, it only applies to a very small percentage of land area in any given city or town."

STATE --- A justice of the Supreme Judicial Court recommended that the full court hear Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s case against the town of Milton for failing to comply with a state rezoning law, but the justice did not go along with the accelerated timetable she sought. The attorney general’s office issued a statement welcoming the decision to have the full court review the matter, but ignoring the delay.