Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Adjusting to bring quick help to Boston area nonprofits during the COVID-19 health emergency, The Boston Foundation (TBF) has awarded $1 million to Boston nonprofits through its annual Open Door Grants program. Normally awarded at the end of the year, TBF made awards to 49 nonprofits and made all grants for general operating support as opposed to targeting awards to specific programs. Among the awardees were housing nonprofits, including Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, the North Shore CDC and Neighborhood of Affordable Housing in East Boston.

NEWTON --- The Newton City Council has OK'd the use of $2 million in Community Preservation Act funds and $500,000 in Community Development Block Grants to create an emergency housing assistance program. Newton joins a growing list of communities that have OK'd local funds to help residents impacted by COVID-19 pay rent and other housings costs.

PEABODY --- Hemisphere Development Group's plan to build 133 mixed-income apartments on a 3.2 acre site has received a key approval from a state financing agency, allowing it to proceed with its application to the city for a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit. Hemisphere will proceed despite concerns from residents and Mayor Edward Bettencourt about the project's potential impact on municipal infrastructure and schools.

CHELSEA --- With over 40,000 people crammed into two square miles, Chelsea is the state's epicenter for COVID-19 and overcrowded housing is part of the picture, as New York Times reporter Ellen Barry finds cases where roommates are kicked out for testing positive and a father slept in his car to avoid infecting his children.

A community's share of residents living in housing where there are more people than rooms may correlate to its vulnerability to COVID-19, a study from the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute has found. Using data from the state Dept. of Public health, researchers found that cities like Chelsea, Brockton, Lynn, Lawrence and others all ranked at or near the top in rates of COVID-19 and overcrowding.

PEABODY --- Worried that neighbors may not be able to attend a special permit hearing due to a lack of technology in their homes, a Peabody City Councilor has asked the City Council to forego opening special permit hearings in remote council settings. During a remote meeting on April 23, Manning-Martin asked the council to not hold "controversial" special permit hearings but some councilors said they had no way of knowing what might prove controversial. Her motion failed 1-10, but there's a motion to reconsider this month.