Housing Headlines

During a panel discussion, Acting City Manager Eric Batista spoke of the city's commitment to “Housing First” solutions and providing robust wraparound services, including the Aurora Apartments on Main Street being renovated into 85 affordable housing units in the city, with 55 of the studios reserved for individuals making 60% or less of the area median income and the remaining 30 reserved for individuals making less than 30% of the area media income; the proposed creation of 28 efficiency units on 38 Lewis Street and 21 units of tiny houses at 268 Stafford Street.

SALEM --- The city has announced that it will use $9.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds for affordable housing, including $5 million earmarked directly for new construction. Additional uses include $1 million for accessory dwellings, $1 million for affordable housing energy efficiency, $1 million for the housing trust fund and $100,000 for a pilot program that would examine ways the city could have the right of first chance to purchase buildings with affordable units before they can be sold to developers.

Worcester could raise more than $3.7 million in fiscal year 2023 for open space, recreation, housing and historic preservation if residents opt in to the Community Preservation Act this fall, according to a new report by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. Enacting the CPA property tax surcharge would cost the median residential property owner $43.46 per year and the median commercial property owner $174.23. Worcester City Council voted in April to place the CPA on the November ballot for voters to decide on a 1.5% surcharge on both residential and commercial property taxes.

NORTHAMPTON --- Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra announced Northampton is working on affordable housing initiatives to help people who priced out of the market. The city is seeking bids to demolish the former Moose Lodge on Cooke Avenue for future housing development of up to four affordable housing units and recently transferred a surplus parcel on the western edge of the former Northampton State Hospital to Habitat for Humanity for three affordable housing units, and just completed upgrading the infrastructure on Laurel Street to accommodate the eventual development of 20 affordable housing units.

NEWTON --- Advocates from groups such as Uniting Citizens for Housing Affordability in Newton (UCHAN), the Newton Coalition of Black Residents, and the Newton Housing Partnership said the city must do more to help residents who are struggling to remain in their homes. The push, intended to take advantage of the federal pandemic aid money, comes as the city has stepped up financial assistance to help families remain in their homes.

In communities across the state, tens of thousands of of people — teachers, firefighters, lab managers, engineers, nurses, and others — are leaving Massachusetts because they can't afford housing costs. Michael Goodman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth says the state is facing a potential "brain drain." the single biggest reason companies gave for reducing their footprint in Massachusetts was the “cost of living. A Massachusetts Business Roundtable report notes that local companies are increasingly likely to hire out-of-state workers to work remotely because of their reluctance to come to Massachusetts.