With the weather and climate on everyone’s mind, we start this week with an update from our friends at Mothers Out Front. On June 25, the Omnibus Climate Bill passed the State Senate by a resounding vote of 38-2. It included many (but not all) of Mothers Out Front’s priorities to facilitate a transition off polluting gas towards clean energy to heat our homes. MOF will be holding a short Climate Action Call this Tuesday, July 9 from 12:00-12:45 pm (you can register here) to learn about the key provisions included in the Senate bill, their other top environmental justice priorities, and — most important — easy actions you can take now to help make sure those provisions survive the in the House before the July 31 legislative deadline. For more information, email MOF at info.ma.clean.heat.clean.air@mothersoutfront.org.
Town Meetings This Week
Both the meetings we are interested in this week are on Monday:
The Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) will be meeting on Monday, July 8, at 6:30-8:00 pm via Zoom (link here; no pre-registration required) to continue planning for its Fiscal Year 2025 applications. You can find the full agenda here and more detail about the aggressive timeline for this year’s applications here, including the mandatory meeting for Community Housing Applicants on July 23rd at 1:30 PM. We encourage anyone interested in applying for CPA funds for an affordable housing development to contact the committee now at cpa@brooklinema.gov for more information and to register for the meeting
The Affordable Housing Overlay District (AHOD) Study Subcommittee also meets on Monday, July 8, via Zoom, at 7:30-9:00 pm (join here; no registration necessary). The Committee will meet its consultant, RKG Associates, which will present a report on their preliminary feasibility analysis and potential strategies for an AHOD in Brookline. You can take a look at RKG’s initial Brookline Housing Financial Analysis here (from the June 24 meeting), and you can see all the Committee’s background documentation and work to date here in their Rolling Meeting Agendas and Minutes.
Coming Next Week
Next Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 7 pm, the Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on the application by Hancock Village to convert 25 garage parking spaces and a storage area to 16 apartment units, including four new affordable homes. While we haven’t reviewed the proposal in detail, we love the idea of converting housing for cars into housing for people! You can see the project materials here, register for the meeting here, and can send any comments — including letters of support — or questions in advance to Brookline’s Senior Planner Maria Morelli at mmorelli@brooklinema.gov.
What We’re Reading. Solving our national and regional housing challenges is not easy, and we need to understand the causes and tackle them on multiple fronts. Here are three articles from this week’s Boston Globe we liked that illustrate different aspects of the challenge.
- R.I. to receive federal funds to change public’s perception of affordable housing.
- A 10,000-unit housing development at Suffolk Downs is on hold indefinitely. Here’s why. The construction pause is a testament to how high interest rates and materials costs are preventing developers from building much-needed projects.
- Massachusetts’ climate and housing crises are intertwined. Some architects are looking to tackle both with green renovations. Retrofitting existing buildings to make them more energy efficient provides both sustainability benefits and an opportunity for affordable housing.