Rochester
Rochester, MA · Real Estate
hoodline.com
East Boston Senior, 70, Fights No-Fault Eviction Over 38 Percent Rent Hike
Jose Velasquez has lived in his Meridian Street apartment in East Boston for 20 years, but the 70-year-old now faces a stark choice: accept a rent increase of nearly 38 percent or be forced out. His housing court case is headed to a jury trial set to begin next week, a fight that will decide whether he, his wife, daughter, and grandchild can stay in the only home they've known for two decades.
YourArlington
Boston
At a new South Shore housing development, live where the cranberries grow
Called Cranberry Crossing, the Norwell subdivision is oriented around the adjacent Cross Street Cranberry Bogs. Cranberries have deep roots in Massachusetts. Harvested for centuries and then commercially cultivated for the first time in the 1800s on Cape Cod, the cranberry industry remains alive and well in the state. According to Massachusetts Cranberries (the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association) the Bay State has thousand of acres of bogs and approximately 375 growers statewide.
The Herald News
Fall River autism-friendly playground funding approved
“It’s a dream come true,” said dad and maintenance technician Marcel Riley. On Nov. 10, the Fall River City Council approved spending $1,010,000 to build Mae’s Playground, a sensory-friendly playground planned for Abbott Court Playground Park. It will be paid for by a combination of grants, private fundraising and local community preservation funds. Riley has led the campaign to build it for over a year. “Finally, I feel like we’re there, fund-wise,” Riley said. Most importantly, the project received a $425,000 PARC grant from the state’s Division of Conservation Services, announced on Oct. 7. It’s the maximum amount applicants can receive. Statewide, fifteen other projects received the grants this year. The idea for the project has been gaining steam since 2025 , when Riley build a do-it-yourself sensory-friendly playground for his daughter Mae-Ella, who has autism and is non-verbal, in their backyard. The project's website explains that sensory-friendly playgrounds are geared toward kids with conditions including autism for whom “bright lights might feel too intense, loud sounds could be startling, or certain textures may be uncomfortable.” Mae’s Playground will also be wheelchair-accessible. “Families like mine, when we decide we’re going to go to a park, first thing that runs through
nerej.com
needhamobserver.com
Axios Boston
Greater Boston renters need to make $181K to afford a starter home
A homebuyer needs to earn at least $181,000 a year to be able to comfortably afford a single-family home — and a lower-priced one at that — in Greater Boston, a new Boston Indicators report states. Why it matters: Homeownership remains out of reach for Greater Boston residents, especially Black and Latino residents, even as home sale prices soften, per the 2026 Greater Boston Housing Report Card released Tuesday. Catch up quick: Demand has outpaced housing supply for decades in Massachusetts, but home sale prices have increased on pace with (and sometimes outpacing) inflation. Those increases, plus increased interest rates, mean home prices are just starting to dip slightly even as the region's population growth and economy slow down. By the numbers: In 2021, interest rates were 3% and the median cost of a single-family home in a "low-priced town" was $553,500, per the report. Some 188,000 renters in Greater Boston earned enough to own a home in that scenario ($124,000 or more). Today, interest rates have more than doubled and the median for that home is $600,000. Now just 119,000 renters earn enough to afford a home ($181,000 or more). Data: Zillow via Boston Indicators, 2026 Greater Boston Housing
Cape Cod Chronicle
vineyardgazette.com
Edgartown Adopts Residential Tax Exemption
The Edgartown select board this week approved a residential tax exemption that will shift some of the property tax burden from year-round residents to seasonal homeowners. The board voted unanimously Monday in favor of enacting a 5 per cent residential tax rate exemption after holding hearings earlier this year. This is the first time that Edgartown has enacted the residential exemption, which has been employed by several other municipalities on the Island.
chelsearecord.com
mahealthyagingcollaborative.org
2026 Greater Boston Housing Report Card Released by The Boston Foundation
Efforts to expand housing production through legislation and expanded permitting in Massachusetts have helped slow but not reverse the housing cost and supply trends that have made the state especially challenging for renters and homeowners, according to the 2026 Greater Boston Housing Report Card. The report, which was released November...
eastietimes.com
NOAH celebrates the preservation of 111 affordable homes in Eastie
The Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) gathered with partners, residents and advocates to acknowledge and celebrate everyone who helped NOAH preserve 111 units in 29 buildings in East Boston. NOAH has long been committed to acquiring small multifamily buildings in East Boston. For decades, East Boston’s triple-deckers and small multifamily buildings have provided homes for the working families and immigrants who have helped shape the neighborhood’s identity. As housing costs have risen, preserving these buildings has become increasingly important to protecting longtime residents from displacement. NOAH has been at the forefront of this work, acquiring properties and maintaining them as affordable housing rather than allowing them to be sold on the private market. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, with the help of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) and the City of Boston, NOAH acquired over 80 three-deckers. NOAH sold 42 of these to first time homebuyers and has since created an additional 37 first time homeownership units.
familydestinationsguide.com
The Hidden Massachusetts Town Where Renters Are Living Large For Under $900 A Month
Your rent check could be a lot smaller if you’d just drive about an hour and a half west of Boston. Athol, Massachusetts has been quietly sitting in Worcester County, waiting for people to notice that living here doesn’t require selling a kidney. Let’s start with the basics,...
CBS News
Should Massachusetts change "heating season" law at state housing?