Housing Headlines

AMHERST --- CityLab.com, Atlantic Monthly's web site dedicated to stories about the people and policies that are creating cities of the future, focuses on Amherst and Ch. 40B to show how a law that is in place to overcome restrictive zoning can be met with stiff challenges, even in town's that have done a lot of affordable housing.

STOUGHTON --- Town Meeting failed to amend zoning of a business district to allow housing, which would've allowed Calarmar Enterprises of Buffalo to proceed with a 40B permit application in order to build 128 one- and two-bedroom units for seniors.

BOSTON --- Seven years after economic troubles forced the Lena Park Community Development Corp. to leave its longtime home on American Legion Highway, the organization has regrouped and returned to its headquarters, which has been refurbished and will once again offer programs like child care, computer literacy and personal finance training to the residents of Franklin Hill.

BOSTON --- The Coalition for Occupied Homes in Foreclosure has finalized the purchase of 10 formerly foreclosed properties in the Four Corners neighborhood of Dorchester as part of their ongoing effort to help families stay in their homes, avoid displacement and reduce the wave of gentrification that is hitting neighborhoods along the new Fairmount commuter rail line.

ARLINGTON --- With only 5.64 percent of its housing considered affordable and faced with a 219-unit Ch. 40B proposal it doesn't want, the Town of Arlington has hired a law firm to explore whether the town can block the project by determining if it meets the requirement of having affordable housing on 1.5 percent of its buildable land.

MEDWAY --- Selectmen have voted to send a 10-page letter to the state voicing its concerns over a developer's proposal to build 76 homes and 116 condos on land owned by former resident Henry Wickett. Prior to the development proposal by Timber Crest LLC, Wickett had offered the land to the town several times but the town never moved forward on the deal, citing wetland concerns.