MELANIE SMALL has been out of a home for about a month. She was living in a rental in Orleans with her 8-year-old daughter until her landlord sold the unit and she had to move out. She was given advance notice and had about a year to look for a new place, but inventory was […]
Housing
Posted inOpinion
Veterans facing homelessness deserve more
WHILE CONTINUING TO contend with the evolving challenges of the pandemic, we must return attention to a crisis that long predated COVID-19 – homelessness in our region. This crisis is made worse by a lack of affordable housing and high demand for it. This is a combustible formula that threatens our regional economic growth and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Biden urges states to adopt eviction moratoriums
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION on Monday called on states without bans, such as Massachusetts, to put in place eviction moratoriums for at the least August and September. The state law blocking evictions during the pandemic expired last October and the federal moratorium came down over the weekend. Almost a third of the nation will be spared […]
Posted inEconomy
End of eviction moratorium brings worry
ANXIETY IS HIGH among tenants, landlords, and housing advocates as the midnight Saturday expiration date for the federal eviction moratorium looms, but what the end of the tenant protection will actually mean is uncertain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions 11 months ago. The state had earlier put […]
Posted inUncategorized
Housing affordability becoming ‘existential crisis’ for Cape Cod
SOARING HOUSING COSTS have become an alarming problem across the state, but on Cape Cod the crisis is even more urgent. While the area’s natural beauty and beaches make it an attractive place for the well-off to splurge on vacation homes, it has also driven up housing prices so sharply that its year-round community is […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker official pitches housing plan to close racial homeownership gap
NEARLY 70 PERCENT of White households in Massachusetts own a home. Only 37.4 percent of non-White households own a home. That gives Massachusetts the seventh highest racial homeownership gap in the country. Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy told legislators at a public hearing Tuesday that for Black families trying to buy […]
Posted inUncategorized
Single-family home prices continue to soar
MASSACHUSETTS’ SOARING HOUSING market remains red-hot, and continues to demand record-high prices, especially for single-family homes, according to data released Wednesday by The Warren Group. The monthly data from June, which reflects the spring real estate market, found that the median price of a single-family home reached a record high of $555,000 – up from […]
Posted inPolitics
Most mayoral candidates pan the Seaport
THE FIVE CANDIDATES for mayor of Boston all have a problem with the city’s shiniest bauble – the Seaport District. At an in-person forum on development sponsored by the Responsible Development Coalition at the training center of the North Atlantic State Regional Council of Carpenters in Dorchester, the five candidates were asked how they felt […]
Posted inOpinion
Rent control is not the answer for Boston
BOSTON FACES a major choice in this fall’s election: will we commit to making housing in our city truly affordable for all, or will we embrace an outdated housing strategy that would harm those who need relief the most? As Boston’s population and economy grew over the last few decades, our housing production didn’t keep […]
Posted inOpinion
In praise of downtowns, Main Streets
COMING FROM NEWTON I should have known that Greater Boston has hundreds of wonderful little downtowns and village centers, the hearts of walkable neighborhoods. Newton itself has 13 villages. I grew up walking to downtown Newtonville for blue slush puppies and books at the branch library, now a senior center. In my 30s, I lived […]