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Bill Would Allow Extra Units To Be Priced Affordably

Posted by: Nate Berg

20 May 2007 - 5:00am

The Boston suburb of Boxford is on the verge of approving a measure that would allow residents to rent extra housing space at state affordable housing prices. Boxford and other suburbs are looking to reduce their low stock of affordable housing.

"Boxford would join a small number of other Massachusetts communities targeting what are commonly known as "in-law" apartments in efforts to diversify their housing."

"Traditional accessory apartments are separate units created within a home for immediate relatives. The Boxford bylaw would allow those units to be rented to nonrelatives at state-recognized affordable rates."

"In Boxford, where the average single-family home is valued at $675,000, just 0.7 percent of the housing stock -- or 19 units -- is affordable, well below the 10 percent figure required by the state to keep developers from bypassing local zoning rules for projects built under Chapter 40B, the affordable housing law."

"The town's percentage is the lowest in the region."

Full Story: Low-cost housing messages are mixed
Source: The Boston Globe, May 17, 2007
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