Housing Headlines

ANDOVER --- The town's affordable housing stock has fallen below the 10 percent level mandated by the state because numerous units built more than a decade ago and once on the books as affordable can now be rented at market rates.

ALLSTON --- Community groups from Allston and Brighton met recently to discuss strategies on how to preserve some 350 affordable housing units whose federal use restrictions are set to expire in the next few years.

NORFOLK --- A Norfolk resident who says officials have conspired to keep him from developing his property is threatening to sue the town for millions of dollars.

BOSTON --- The Asian Community Development Corp. and the New Boston Fund are close to signing a lease agreement with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority that would create 324 units of housing in Chinatown. Of the units, half of them would be affordable condos and rentals. Altogether, the effort will double Chinatown's current owner-occupancy rate.

Pepperell --- Selectmen and residents have expressed initial approval of a developer's proposal to build a 56-unit "friendly 40B" on 17.5 acres of land in Pepperell. According to selectmen, the developer Etchstone Properties, Inc., has not only incorporated town input in the effort, but will also provide the town with a much-sought resource -- a third well site.

CHICOPEE --- One year after a federal audit disclosed that the city had not properly dispersed federal funds for housing, the mayor has announced that the former housing director of Springfield has been hired as a housing policy consultant. Kathleen Lingenberg resigned from her post last month after 11 years because she had moved from the city and was no longer in compliance with its residency requirement for employees.