Housing Headlines

REGION --- A Metropolitan Area Planning Council study states that there are more than 3,000 strip malls — roughly 14 square miles of them — across Greater Boston and many are “underutilized, underperforming or obsolete and they’d be ideal for helping solve the region’s housing crisis. The council estimates Eastern Massachusetts will need roughly 140,000 new multifamily housing units by 2030. If only 10% of those old malls were rebuilt to add housing, 125,000 units could be created.

STATE --- Massachusetts home prices hit a new record for the month of July, clearing $600,000 for the median single-family home, according to data released by the Warren Group and Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Monthly closed sales dipped in July for the first time in four months, reversing a slightly positive trend at the start of the summer. High interest rates continue to be a large factor in the subdued market, said MAR Treasurer Jim Major.

CHARLESTOWN --- The first phase of what will be a more than $1.4 billion, decade-long overhaul at Charlestown's Bunker Hill public housing complex is underway. The plan calls for 2,699 apartments in 15 buildings — a combination of deeply affordable units and another 1,689 market-rate units, 7 acres of open space, new commercial space, and a community center. (Another 100 replacement units will be built elsewhere in Charlestown.) Crucially, the market-rate and affordable units will be mixed together, with no physical distinctions between them.

BEDFORD --- The deadline to apply for an affordable home opportunity in Bedford is Monday, August 21. The purchase price for the 3-bedroom home is $252,000, which is set to be affordable for eligible buyers at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income. Contact Lara Plaskon at lara@rhsohousing.org for more information.

WORCESTER --- The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, a Worcester-based advocacy group, has sued the Town of Holden for defying the state’s new multifamily housing law — MBTA Communities. The filing to the state Supreme Judicial Court cites Holden officials’ public refusal to comply with the law — which mandates cities and towns with access to the MBTA zone for more multifamily housing capacity and states this position both exacerbates the housing shortage and undermines the law. Holden’s Select Board and town manager, Peter Lukes, have decried the law’s requirements as out of place for the community’s “single-family home neighborhoods,” and asserted that the new zoning requirements are presented in the law as optional.

STATE --- A small group of local officials, tenant advocates and renters came together in an effort led by Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly to move toward putting a rent control revival on the 2024 ballot. If the campaign can clear procedural hurdles supporters might circumvent a hesitant legislature and let voters themselves decide. Real estate and landlord groups immediately began marshaling opposition to the measure, warning that it would stifle much-needed production of new housing.