Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- A researcher taking a graduate level class at Northeastern University has used new tools to map economic disparities in Boston on metrics ranging from unemployment, rent burden, household income, commute times, home ownership and families under the poverty level. Take the link to the Globe story or go to researcher Daniel Hartman's results at Hartman.dj/boston.

GROTON --- Affordable for-sale units at the new Boynton Meadows subdivision are selling slowly and the town's housing coordinator says it's because first-time buyers are having trouble meeting all the various requirements needed to secure financing.

QUINCY --- A planner for a regional planning agency has said the city is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to affordable housing as all 2,200 housing units in the development pipeline are not slated to be affordable. Currently 4,077 of Quincy's 42,547 housing units are considered affordable (9.6 percent), a percentage that will go down once the 2,200 market-rate units come on line.

BOSTON --- Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance Executive Director Tom Callahan uses the upcoming Yankees-Red Sox series to point out that when it comes to including affordable housing in housing developments, New York City is winning, generally requiring twice as much as Boston.

FOXBORO --- The chair of the zoning board of appeals is urging the town and residents to continue discussions with The Hanover Company over its plans to use Ch. 40B to build a 248-unit apartment building, even though a lawyer representing the Texas-based company has said the company will not reduce the scope of its plans. ZBA Chairman J. Neil Forster says discussions should continue as an outright denail may put the town at risk of losing an appeal with the state.

SPRINGFIELD --- Bilingual Veterans Outreach Center recently began construction on a $2.8 million housing complex to provide permanent housing for 20 homeless veterans. With an expected completion date of December 2015, the organization will begin taking applications in November.