Even in your wildest dreams could you imagine something like this happening:
From the ArchBoston.com forum:
Re: NorthPoint Cambridge
I recently spoke to someone who works indirectly with this project. He told me that One Earhart has been completed for over 5 months and is still unoccupied. Two Earhart would’ve been completed around the same time but during […]

Popularity of this post: 7%

As part of any new major residential project in the city of Boston, a developer has to set aside anywhere from 10-13% of the units as “affordable”. These are usually units in the same building, but not with all the upgrades. Standard units.
Still, a sweet deal for any buyer.
And, the income limits are […]

Popularity of this post: 25%

According to Banker & Tradesman, the effort to repeal the state’s chief affordable housing law has failed.
The repeal would have erased four sections of the state’s “Chapter 40B” regulations.
Chapter 40B requires cities and towns to allow developers to build housing with more density than would otherwise be allowed, if their “affordable housing” is less than […]

Popularity of this post: 17%

Other cities and towns, take note.
It is easy to comply with the Commonwealth’s 40B regulation.
Just look at what Concord has done (or is attempting to do, I should say).
According to the Globe:
With a 350-unit housing development in the works, Concord is on the verge of meeting a state mandate for affordable housing and regaining control […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

I had wanted to write a more elaborate post on this, but time’s getting away from me.
Last week, the Globe ran a story about cottages - “clustered bungalows” they called them.

The homes would be less than 1,000 square feet each with one or two bedrooms and detached one-car garages. There would be no basements or […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

According to the Associated Press:
… Gov. Deval Patrick on Friday unveiled a $1.1 billion bond bill aimed at making it more affordable in Massachusetts.
The bill, described as the largest affordable housing bill in state history, includes $500 million to update state-owned public housing developments.
Or, the state could just sell them all off …
Source: Patrick […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

[New York} Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a new bill Thursday that provides what advocates say is much-needed housing dollars for New York artists.
The bill gives grants of up $12,000 to a single artist over a two-year-period and up to $20,000 to a group of artists for live-work space in neighborhoods artists have been priced out […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

The Answer: Schools, crime, and the high cost of housing.
In that order.
The Question: Why don’t middle-class families stay in Boston?
Why do I ask?
The Globe had a long article in last this week’s magazine, regarding the “flight” of middle-class families out of Boston into the suburbs.
In some ways, it’s nothing new, right? I […]

Popularity of this post: 18%

So, over the weekend, there was a guest columnist in the Globe, talking about how great things have been achieved through the use of Chapter 40B, the Commonwealth’s “anti-snob” law.
Basically, the law (as I understand it) allows developers to circumvent a town’s zoning laws, if they make at least 25% of the housing units “affordable”, […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

There are several ways to encourage more affordable housing in cities.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, very few of them work very well.
In Boston, most major developments come with “golden handcuffs”. A developer can build, but he has to put aside 10%, I mean 13%, of the units for sale to people at below-market rates. […]

Popularity of this post: 9%