The coronavirus pandemic has often served as a magnifying glass, accentuating and amplifying existing trends in our society. With housing, for example, COVID-19 showed us what we already suspected – that poor people and people of color are most vulnerable to displacement from their homes in tough economic times, that access to housing is one […]
Housing
Posted inEconomy
Mass Reboot: Home
THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic has often served as a magnifying glass, accentuating and amplifying existing trends in our society. With housing, for example, COVID-19 showed us what we already suspected – that poor people and people of color are most vulnerable to displacement from their homes in tough economic times, that access to housing is one […]
Posted inOpinion
Real estate key driver of economy
WITHOUT A DOUBT, this last year has been hard on every industry, and the real estate market was not immune to the economic hardships and the uncertainty brought on by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. We are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, with about one-third of the country now […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Unless you’re selling, hot housing market is concerning
Many publications have written a version of the same story. The Cape Cod Times reports that home sales on the Cape keep breaking records, making it the “best time ever to sell.” An April headline in the Boston Globe wrote “Houses in Greater Boston cost more than ever last month,” with the median single family […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Unless you’re selling, hot housing market is concerning
MANY PUBLICATIONS have written a version of the same story. The Cape Cod Times reports that home sales on the Cape keep breaking records, making it the “best time ever to sell.” An April headline in the Boston Globe wrote “Houses in Greater Boston cost more than ever last month,” with the median single family […]
Posted inOpinion
Getting the details right on transit oriented development law
PASSING AMBITIOUS LEGISLATION matters for obvious reasons, but so too does the rule-making process that follows a law’s passage. Final language often leaves state agencies with tremendous leeway, and real-world impact can vary widely based on administrative decisions that often get far less public scrutiny. Political scientist Leah Stokes calls this the “fog of enactment,” […]
Posted inOpinion
Building a city center serving six cities
QUICK QUIZ: What is the biggest growth district in Massachusetts outside of the city of Boston right now? Did you guess Kendall Square? Cambridge Crossing? Somerville’s Union Square? Watertown’s Arsenal Street? Quincy Center? Lynn’s waterfront? Revere Beach? Woburn’s Commerce Way? Waltham along Route 128? By my read, it is a place without an identity or […]
Posted inPolitics
Lt. Gov. Polito buys $1.8m beach house
LT. GOV. KARYN POLITO and her husband have jumped on the pandemic-induced second home craze, paying nearly $1.8 million for a large house in Dartmouth. According to assessing records, Polito and her husband Stephen Rodolakis paid $1.795 million for the 4,800-square-foot house located not far from the water on Ricketson’s Point. A Polito spokesperson said […]
Posted inHealth Care
Chelsea’s yearlong battle with COVID
TRYING TO DEFEAT COVID has often been likened to a war. If the analogy is apt, nowhere in Massachusetts has the fight been more intense than in Chelsea, and Gladys Vega has been a tireless general leading the battle there against the viral adversary. The longtime executive director of La Colaborativa, the local nonprofit advocacy […]
Posted inUncategorized
State’s housing assistance program posts big gains
THE STATE’S EMERGENCY housing assistance program is upping its game, pushing more money out the door and helping more people struggling to avoid eviction. As of January 13, the program had dispensed only $22.6 million of the $100 million available. But now that figure has more than doubled to $48.4 million. The number of households […]