THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION has paid out less than 20 percent of the money set aside for emergency housing assistance, prompting advocates for tenants to claim that the program is not being administered properly and spawning an eviction crisis. “The systemic failures of the RAFT (Residential Assistance for Families in Transition) program to provide adequate notice […]
Housing
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
HinghamYIMBY supports more than just wooing market-rate homebuyers
I’D LIKE TO acknowledge the efforts CommonWealth has made to publicize the need for — and explore the many deep-seated local obstacles to — affordable and low-income housing throughout the Boston area. In your recent article about our group, HinghamYIMBY (“In Hingham, a welcome to (well-heeled) black residents”), you have correctly quoted some statements of mine that appeared in other publications. However, to […]
Posted inUncategorized
A ‘dream come true’ in Wrentham
KIM BASSIGNANI grew up in a four-bedroom raised ranch in Norfolk. Her father, Larry, a Navy veteran injured on a construction project while in the service, used his disability payments to help build the solidly middle-class home in 1965 with the help of life-long friends from Norfolk. The lot cost just $900. The house cost […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker’s starter house effort a bust
WITH THE COST of buying a home in Eastern Massachusetts continuing to soar further out of reach for many families, a Baker administration plan designed to spur construction of affordably priced “starter homes” seemed just the thing to provide hope for would-be homeowners. The new Starter Home Zoning District was launched in 2016 amid hopes […]
Posted inEconomy
In Hingham, a welcome to (well-heeled) black residents
IN THE END, Hingham’s gonna Hingham. And so the tony town on Boston’s South Shore finds itself facing a bit of blowback following an effort to show that it wants to be known as something other than an almost-all white, upscale enclave of privilege. It started when a local group recently formed and took on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Poll: Residents divided on policy response to evictions
AN ONLINE POLL of 1,000 residents indicates 28 percent support resuming the state’s ban on evictions, 29 percent back increased state funding for landlords and tenants, 28 percent favor a combination of the two options, and 4 percent favor neither option. The remaining 11 percent were unsure what to do. The survey was conducted by […]
Posted inUncategorized
Mass. judge stays Fair Housing Act changes
A FEDERAL JUDGE on Sunday night issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from moving ahead with an overhaul of the 52-year-old Fair Housing Act that would have increased the threshold tenants must meet to prove unintentional discrimination by landlords and mortgage lenders. In his decision, Judge Mark Mastroianni of the US District Court […]
Posted inUncategorized
ICE questions, then releases, undocumented Lynn resident
AN UNDOCUMENTED Lynn resident reported voluntarily to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Friday and, to the surprise of his attorney, was allowed to leave. “I am so pleased. I’m giving thanks to God and all the people who have helped me,” said Rogelio Gonzalez in a Spanish-language phone interview just minutes after his release. […]
Posted inUncategorized
With eviction ban lifted, landlords have next move
ON THE FIRST business day after the end of a six-month long statewide moratorium on evictions, not much happened. But that could change fairly quickly. The 11,000-plus pending cases that were filed before the mid-April ban will now start moving forward in the state’s housing courts. A large chunk of those pending cases are so […]
Posted inOpinion
As 2d COVID spike nears, ending eviction ban bad idea
MASSACHUSETTS FINDS ITSELF in what looks like the early stages of a second coronavirus spike. Since the start of September, the state’s daily incidence rate has increased 118 percent. Our current 8.7 cases per 100,000 residents qualifies the whole state as high risk. With cooler weather more people are congregating indoors, where the virus spreads […]