Housing Headlines

WORCESTER --- In an internal investigation, the Worcester Housing Authority has uncovered $1.6 million in fraud committed over the past five years - from residents reporting false income, landlords lying about tenant occupancy and people living in public housing without the public housing agency knowing it.

FALL RIVER - The city's zoning board of appeals has granted a special permit to a New York-based development company to turn the the sprawling and largely vacant Northeast Knitting Mill into affordable senior housing. Liberty Affordable Housing of Rome N.Y. proposes to build 115 to 120 apartments and hopes to obtain state historic tax credits to help fund the $25 million project.

BOSTON --- MHP's Foundation for Growth web site has posted excerpts from Northeastern's Barry Bluestone's Boston Globe blog. Bluestone argues that "seismic" demographic shifts will increase the demand for apartments, something most suburan towns aren't zoning for.

ANDOVER --- The Andover Community Trust is getting ready to pick a buyer for a permanently affordable three-bedroom home. It is the sixth home the trust has developed and the third affordable home that has been built for the trust by students at Greater Lawrence Technical High School. The home will be sold for $175,000 and preference will be given to first-time homebuyers. The trust already has a site under control to build a seventh affordable home.

BOSTON --- City officials are declaring that a program focused on improving the city's 9,000 three-deckers has been a success, pointing to figures that show more homeowners than investors are purchasing three-deckers. According to Department of Neighborhood Development chief Shiela Dillon, 51 percent of the three-deckers sold last year were bought by owner-occupants.

NEEDHAM --- The selectmen reiterated their commitment to affordable housing while at the same time voicing concern about the impact of a 300-unit Ch. 40B proposal for Greendale Avenue, which has received the necessary state approvals to bring the project before the town's zoning board of appeals.