Author: Nathanael King
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Cambridge eyes major zoning relief for affordable developments
Cambridge City Hall. Cambridge City Council dedicated the March 20 Housing Committee meeting to hearing public comments on the 100% Affordable Housing Zoning Overlay. The proposal would allow developers of affordable housing exclusively for low and medium income renters to build significantly more densely and with a streamlined permit process citywide. The meeting drew a…
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Cambridge votes to add gender neutral option to birth certificates
The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously last Monday to draft a home-rule petition allowing residents to amend birth certificates to a third gender category, “X,” rather than male or female, as well as streamlining the change process. The proposed bill is intended to accommodate residents who identify as neither exclusively male nor female and to…
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Most Mass. communities fall short of state affordable housing goal
The Comprehensive Permit Act, usually called 40B, set a goal for Massachusetts towns and cities nearly five decades ago: develop at least 10 percent of local housing to be affordable in the long term for low or middle income residents. As of a late 2017 Department of Housing and Community Development report, just 67 of…
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Mass. Lawmakers Fail to Pass Modest Landlord Reforms
The defiant mood spread across the steps of the Massachusetts State House on May 2, as dozens of demonstrators from City Life/Vida Urbana and other members of the Right to Remain Coalition learned the Jim Brooks Community Stabilization Act had been sent to study — a move that officially means it will not be voted…
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Boston holds fair housing workshop in Dudley Square
City officials pushed to educate Boston’s renters and residents on the city’s housing lottery system at Saturday’s Fair Housing and Equity Open House in Dudley Square. The open house featured information tables from municipal housing agencies and private community development organizations, as well as two workshops; one on tenant rights and another on affordable and…
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Ex-priest convicted of child sexual abuse to be released Friday, alleged victims express concerns and outrage
Rodney Ford speaks at the podium as Mitchell Garabedian, right, looks on. Photo: Nathanael King. “Paul Shanley is evil. He destroyed my son’s life, my family’s life, and many other victim’s lives,” Rodney Ford said, holding back tears. Shanley, the ex-priest who allegedly sexually abused Ford’s son from ages six to 12 in the 80s,…
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‘New Joelyn’s Home’ women’s shelter opens in Roxbury
Kelly Rapoza tried detox, intensive outpatient programs and Alcoholics Anonymous, but she still couldn’t kick her struggle with alcoholism. Sick, homeless and having recently lost custody of her young son, she entered yet another detox program in 2014, and from there she transitioned into Joelyn’s Family Home, a residential treatment facility on Boston Harbor’s Long…
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Brockton Tent City Cleared Due to Public Safety Concerns
Mayor Bill Carpenter of Brockton received a call late at night on June 17 from the city’s fire chief. First responders had just extinguished a fire in the tent-filled homeless encampment not far from downtown. Fires in Tent City have become frequent in recent months, but this blaze was adjacent to about 20 tanks of…
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Sox for Socks: Health care professionals and Red Sox Foundation collect thousands of socks for the homeless
Photo: Nathanael King Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program partnered with the Red Sox Foundation to collect 5,100 pairs of socks and $2,100 in their Sox for Socks charity drive at Fenway on June 3-5. BHCHP hands out clean socks to homeless patients in their 60 locations and on the street. Many homeless people…
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Boston Businesses Raffle Year in Apartment Benefiting Youth Shelter
A year of rent-free living in a fully-furnished Chroma Cambridge apartment was the prize in an online raffle benefiting Y2Y Harvard Square, a student-run homeless shelter exclusively for young adults. Four companies, all based in Boston, collaborated on the giveaway, which raised more than $29,000. The winner was announced via livestream as Leonardo Topa and…