Housing Headlines

NEWTON --- With enhanced federal unemployment benefits set to end July 31, Newton officials are prepared for more people to apply to the city's COVID-19 housing relief program. Administered by the nonprofit Metro West Collaborative Development, the $2.5 million fund reportedly helped 150 applicants and distributed $210,000 in July. The average assistance per household was $1,400.

A UMass Donahue study that found a correlation between COVID-19 rates and overcrowded housing comes as no surprise to the executive director of a Chelsea nonprofit. Rafael Mares of The Neighborhood Developers said a lack of affordable housing has forced households to live in crowded situations for years and this "has turned deadly during the pandemic.” Mares added that affordable housing units TND manages in Chelsea and Revere are not overcrowded and have had far lower COVID rates.

In a letter to the Boston Globe, Newton-Needham Regional Chamber President Greg Reibman offered a different perspective on reporting that some of the state's largest business organizations are against a transportation financing tool called regional ballot initiatives. Reibman wrote that before COVID-19 hit, his chamber joined the Alliance for Business Leadership, the Kendall Square Association, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, and other progressive business organizations in drafting solutions that included regional ballot initiatives that would fund local transit projects. This concept is embraced by some policy makers as a way to better link local transit with housing.

BOSTON --- Gov. Charlie Baker announced today that he's extending the state's eviction moratorium for two months, staving off an estimated 20,000 eviction cases that housing court administrators were predicting could happen if the moratorium was allowed to expire on Aug. 18. The extension, which also applies to foreclosures, means the moratorium is now in place until Oct. 17.

BOSTON --- Two nonprofits are working with the City of Boston to buy Morton Village, a Mattapan apartment building with 207 low-cost apartments. The sale of this housing is another test of the affordable housing sector's ability to compete with private buyers who would raise rents. Morton Village is being compared to the 347-unit Fairlawn Apartments in Mattapan, which has seen rents rise since it was purchased by a private developer for $65 million in 2018.

BOSTON --- Waiting lists for affordable housing are high but some nonprofit owners like John Woods of the Allston-Brighton Community Development think there may be some opportunities if college renters don't come back and owners with empty units decide to put their properties on the market.