Housing Headlines

WORCESTER --- Worcester's effort to ease the housing crunch with an inclusionary zoning ordinance is based on data that show that Worcester has grown by 27,000 people in the past 10 years, but only 10,000 units of housing have been created during that time. Of those units, only 500 were designated affordable. An inclusionary zoning ordinance would ensure a certain amount of affordable housing is included in housing development projects.

WORCESTER --- A proposed commercial development in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood would give local small business owners the opportunity to build generational wealth by helping them purchase their own brick-and-mortar space. The project, supported by the Main South C ommunity Development Corporation, would turn a currently vacant lot into seven affordable rent-to-own commercial spaces,

BOSTON --- Despite several policy efforts by the state to encourage housing, recent decisions at the local level indicate that communities are still reluctant to approve new housing, a situation that is exacerbating the state's housing problems and creating a challenge that advocates hope the state's new governor will tackle head on beginning next year.

Housing authorities from Amherst, Boston, Chelmsford, Lowell and Newton have formed a working group to explore selling off scattered-site properties in their portfolio to reduce maintenance costs and raise funds to develop more affordable housing. Scattered-site housing was promoted by the federal government some 50 years ago as an alternative to dense public housing but that has proven to be difficult to manage, housing authority executives say.

Mayor Linda Tyer has allocated $8.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to address housing insecurity and homelessness. Funding will help with the construction of 37 new permanent supportive housing units and 41 new affordable housing units.

Harvard and developer Tishman Speyer are commiting 25% of the housing units in the first phase of its proposed Enterprise Research Campus in Allston to be income-restricted. This commitment that would be the largest percentage of income-restricted units in a single project by a private developer in Boston.