Housing Headlines

ORLEANS --- Concerned about rising home prices and the ability of year-round residents to afford housing, the Town of Orleans is spending $29,000 to assess the feasibility of purchasing the shuttered Governor Prence Inn so it can be conveyed to a developer who would build affordable housing. The 6A motel has been in operation since 1959 but did not open last year due to the pandemic, at which point the owners approached the town about a possible purchase.

MALDEN --- By executive order, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson has enacted a measure that will block most evictions and make $250,000 available to help residents pay their landlords and remain in their homes. The order applies to evictions due to nonpayment of rent and to no-cause evictions while the rental assistance will be provided through Housing Families Inc., a local nonprofit.

AMHERST --- In order to make affordable housing more feasible to developers, the Town of Amherst is looking to use $825,000 in local funds so it can buy three lots and combine it with an abutting town-owned lot to create a parcel that could hold up to 70 apartments. Town Manager Paul Bockelman said combining the two parcels into one project would yield better results as the properties by themselves "are too small for a developer."

BOSTON --- The economic bond bill OK'd by the Legislature includes two measures to increase housing supply - Gov. Charlie Baker's Housing Choice legislation that would lower the percentage of votes needed to approve a variety of local zoning changes to simple majority; and a measure that would require MBTA communities to allow denser housing near at least one station. Baker has until Jan. 16 to sign the economic development bill as is, or send sections back to the Legislature, which would amount to a veto.

WORCESTER --- An education advocate and a member of the Worcester Planning Board have called for the City of Worcester to overhaul its zoning. "We should holistically re-visit our laws to encourage and incentivize neighborhood-oriented growth, including mixed-use projects, affordable housing; local jobs, walkability, transportation and sustainability," wrote Central Mass. Housing Alliance public education director Etel Haxhiaj and planning board member Paul DePalo in the Worcester Telegram.

BOSTON --- The Fenway Community Development Corp. is proposing to build 27 affordable studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments on vacant land at 72 Burbank Street. The site was permitted last year to another developer for 32 mixed-income units but the Fenway CDC is amending that proposal, calling for all apartment to be affordable - seven at or below 30 percent of area median income (AMI), five at 50 percent AMI and 16 at 60 percent AMI. At the first public meeting, reaction was positive with local leaders praising the deep affordability of the apartments.