Housing Headlines

LYNN --- Attorney General Maura Healy is investigating a Lynn landlord after several reports of threats and abuse by tenants, including an accusation that the landlord threatened to have one resident deported after the resident complained about conditions at the property.

FALMOUTH --- Creating diversity, housing for people of a certain area median income and also units for people with disabilities are top priorities of the town's affordable housing trust. Town officials say the updated priorities reflect the community's desire to encourage "residency of diverse populations and gives equal access to housing opportunities."

NEWTON --- After more than two years of negotiations between the city, neighborhood groups and the developers, the Newton City Council has unanimously approved a special permit and zoning changes that will allow the development of a 582-apartment mixed use project on land next to the MBTA's Riverside Station at Route 95.

In the wake of Gov. Baker's $171 million eviction diversion initiative, Cape Cod housing officials are urging tenants and landlords to ask for help before they fall into a crisis, even as underlying economic factors cause them to worry that a housing crisis may lie head. Cape officials see a perfect storm brewing as year-round homes are being sold to second-home buyers and seasonal workers cope with lower wages, which could hurt their unemployment benefits come winter.

The end of the Massachusetts eviction ban is a cause for concern, but reporting by WBUR's Beth Healy and Simón Rios shows that some landlords were pressuring tenants to leave during the ban. According to their interviews, complaints of landlord intimidation have been concentrated in East Boston, Chelsea and Lynn, with tactics that included harassing unemployed & ailing tenants with threats, torrential texting, changing locks, calling cops and threats to call immigration.

CAMBRIDGE --- After a long approval process that included more than 20 community meetings and 62 proposed amendments, the City Council voted 7-2 to OK a city-wide affordable housing overlay district that will increases in density, building heights and other changes for residential developments in which all units are affordable to households earning up to 100 percent of area median income and 80 percent of the units in any development affordable up to 80 percent AMI.