Housing Headlines

WESTFORD --- Six years after another company first proposed to build multi-family housing on Littleton Road, construction has finally begun on a 200-unit housing complex. Construction workers broke ground on July 15 at the 16 Littleton Road site. The property is being developed with a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit awarded by the town to Lowell-based Princeton Properties and Boston-based Guggenheim Real Estate. Forty of the units will be affordable in this $35 million project. In addition to a 40B permit, the town supported the development with $150,000 from its affordable housing trust fund.

NORWOOD --- With the approval of a 262-unit 40B apartment complex at Upland Woods, Norwood is one step closer toward reaching its 10 percent affordable housing goal. Norwood needs approximately 539 to meet that goal, a total that will be almost cut in half when the state recognizes the town's recent approval of a permit for the 262-unit Upland Woods. In addition, selectmen recently approved the first of the two 40R projects before the town, Plimpton Press, which if it goes forward would add 270 more units to the town's subsidized housing inventory.

MILTON --- Despite previous clashes with the town over its denial of his plan to build three homes on 12 acres, developer Todd Hamilton is confident that his new proposal for the site - 77 townhouses - will move quickly through the town's Ch. 40B process. Hamilton's previous attempt to seek a special permit through the plannng board resulted in him accusing longtime planning board chair Alex Whiteside of having a conflict of interest and then running against and losing to the five-term planning board member this past spring.

LAKEVILLE --- The state's Department of Housing and Community Development has concluded that not all of the 204 units at Lakeville Station will count towards the town's affordable housing inventory because the development cannot be viewed as one project but rather astwo apartment buildings that operate separately, with all of the affordable units located in the 104-unit Kensington Court phase.

VINEYARD HAVEN --- The Island Housing Trust (IHT) has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Ronald and Margaret Jackson to purchase a six-unit apartment building, one of four in the Village Court complex on State Road in Vineyard Haven. IHIT has until the end of the year to finance the $600,000 acquisition. IHT Executive Director Phillippe Jordi said additional funds - possibly from the Community Preservation Act - will be used to renovate the units and he expects the one-bedroom units will rent for $700 a month and the two-bedroom units for $840 to qualified low-income working Island families and individuals.

BOSTON, Sept. 11, 2013 --- MHP Executive Director Clark Ziegler cites evidence showing that many baby boomers aren't selling their homes, meaning we're going to need to build more homes for young families.