Housing

Winter 2018

Everyone knows Anthony in the North End – just not this one

Phony host names on rental site mislead as to who the owner is

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THIS STORY IS A SIDEBAR TO THE MAIN STORY: THE AIRBNB GOLD RUSH IS ON. ANTHONY WAS A popular Airbnb host. His 88 units in Boston, including about half in the North End, drew more than 2,000 mostly positive reviews over a 15-month period. “We had a fantastic stay in Anthony’s place,” wrote Carol from(...)

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Mayor of firsts

Winter 2018

Mayor of firsts

Yvonne Spicer says she’s undaunted by new challenges—a good trait for the first person to serve as mayor of Framingham.

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Photographs by Frank Curran YVONNE SPICER, like a  lot of her fellow Framingham residents, freely admits that she voted against the charter question to make the state’s biggest town a mid-sized city. But once the measure passed by the thinnest of margins, the former teacher and vice president of the Museum of Science did what(...)

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Puerto Ricans struggle to rebuild lives in Mass.

Winter 2018

Puerto Ricans struggle to rebuild lives in Mass.

Evacuees face language, culture, economic barriers

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ON A CRISP morning in November, Veronica Perez and Limarie Rivera, both self-evacuees from Puerto Rico, borrow a car from Rivera’s cousin and make their way to the New North Citizens’ Council in Springfield. New North is one of nearly two dozen welcome centers around the state designated as a first stop for people coming(...)

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Is anyone home at Millennium Tower?

Is anyone home at Millennium Tower?

City records indicate few condo owners take residential exemption

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WEALTHY PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD have bought condos at the ultra-luxury Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing, but not many of them live there full time. City of Boston assessing records indicate three of every four owners don’t consider their condos their principal residence, suggesting the 60-story building, which is nearly sold out, is(...)

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Momentum for more housing choices in the state

Opinion

Momentum for more housing choices in the state

Lawmakers need to create incentives for communities to increase housing stock

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GOV. CHARLIE BAKER joined the fight to promote housing last week—adding more push to the consensus that 2018 is the year to tackle the Commonwealth’s housing crisis head on.  As we head into the 2018 session, it’s time for the Legislature to pass bills that will make it easier for our cities and towns to(...)

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Airbnb’s smoke and mirrors

Opinion

Airbnb’s smoke and mirrors

Lawmakers, public shouldn't be duped by company's embrace of taxes in short-term rentals

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IN HIS NOVEMBER 8 op-ed in CommonWealth (“Time for state to catch up on Airbnb tax”), Airbnb executive Will Burns raises many excellent points about why it is time for the state to act on the taxation and regulation of short-term rental platforms. It is important, however, that lawmakers and the public see through the(...)

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Are homes only for the upper-class?

Opinion/ Fall 2017

Are homes only for the upper-class?

Reduction in middle-class homeowners is threat to Mass. economy

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HOMEOWNERSHIP HAS TRADITIONALLY been a marker of middle-class life, and a tool for vaulting families solidly into the middle class. Sustainable homeownership builds family wealth, and helps stabilize neighborhoods. But over the past decade, the nature of homeownership in Massachusetts has shifted drastically. Middle-class families in Massa-chusetts are increasingly struggling to access homeownership—especially in greater(...)

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Sound lessons from Seattle

Opinion

Sound lessons from Seattle

In housing and mobility, we could learn a lot more than just how to host Amazon

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MASSACHUSETTS IS ABUZZ with talk about whether Amazon might choose one of our communities for its second North American headquarters. Just days after Amazon announced a nation-wide search for “HQ2,” we visited the company’s longtime home, Seattle, with a delegation of more than a dozen Massachusetts leaders. This study tour – funded by the Barr(...)

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Cambridge votes home-sharing regs

Cambridge votes home-sharing regs

Owners required to live in same or adjacent building

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE ABSENCE OF A STATE STRATEGY to regulate short-term housing rentals, the Cambridge City Council voted Monday night to require hosts to live in the same or an adjacent building as part of a new set of rules designed to protect the city’s scarce affordable housing market. The new city(...)

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Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge

Boston says it’s studying whether to rebuild Long Island Bridge

Mayor had vowed to rebuild but now says no decision has been made

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A SPOKESWOMAN FOR Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued a statement saying the city is doing a cost-benefit analysis on rebuilding the Long Island Bridge, which is a shift from the mayor’s earlier stance that the city would definitely rebuild the span. Walsh’s statement came in the wake of a CommonWealth story reporting that the mayor(...)

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