Housing Headlines

IPSWICH --- With rents in town averaging $1,500 a month for a two-bedroom, Ipswich Housing Coordinator Terry Anderson agrees there's a crisis in terms of affordability while a local realtor says short supply in the rental market is being further exacerbated by prospective buyers who can't find a home and are still renting.

EASTON --- Despite having local funding tools like the Community Preservation Act and a local housing trust in place, Easton officials are still worried about the town's ability to provide affordable housing for families making around $50,000 per year.

HOLBROOK --- Despite being one of about 50 communities in the state to have more than 10 percent of its housing considered affordable by the state, the Holbrook Housing Authority reports long waiting lists for senior, disabled and family housing.

TAUNTON --- The City Council has voted 8-0 in favor of the Downtown Taunton Foundation's request to convert its School Street Lofts ground floor commercial space into apartments after the nonprofit developer failed to find commercial tenants. DTF bought the 15 School St. property - formerly a bar - in 2013 and rehabbed the second floor into two affordable apartments which are now occupied. Having failed to find a commercial tenant, the council vote clears the way for DTF to do the same thing on the ground floor.

In a regional report for Gatehouse newspapers, reporter Gerry Tuoti finds that the debate over the value of the Ch. 40B housing law is one of control, with housing advocates saying it's a useful tool in getting communities to participate in addressing housing issues while municipal representatives say the law takes too much control away from communities.

AMHERST --- Town meeting voters OK'd a measure allowing the town to seek permission from the state to grant up to 10 years of property tax relief to developers who provide affordable housing but failed to provide the two-thirds margin necessary to back an overhaul of the town's inclusionary zoning bylaw.