Housing Headlines

In a think piece for the Boston Globe real estate section, correspondent Jon Gorey talks to experts who argue that if single-family zoning prevents the development of condos, town homes and apartments, its elimination would be one way to be better able build multifamily housing and address our housing shortage.

Just as advocates for domestic workers used two feature films to address stereotypes as part of a campaign to win better working conditions, so too can housing advocates use culture and the arts to shift away from deeply ingrained narratives such as personal failure being the root cause of housing insecurity.

ORLEANS --- As part of its bid to redevelop the former Cape Cod 5 headquarters into 62 mixed-income apartments, Pennrose LLC has asked neighboring Harwich to contribute $100,000 in local funds to the project. The request is not unusual as Pennrose received local funds from Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet when it built Nauset Green, a 65-unit affordable housing development in Eastham.

Wall Street got bailed out after foreclosure crisis. This time, federal measures like Build Back Better and a state proposal to give tenants and non-profits a chance to preserve affordability and prevent displacement are ideas that can keep people in their homes and "repair the generations of hurt, harm, and policy violence inflicted on our most vulnerable and neglected communities."

QUINCY --- Father Bill's and MainSpring has broken ground on the first phase of a new $24 million Broad Street facility that will include long-term housing and related services. The new facility will feature 30 affordable apartments and 75 beds to house the homeless, about 60 less than its current emergency shelter, which is being knocked down to make way for a new city police station.