Massachusetts
Accessory dwelling units could change housing landscape in Mass. under new law
It felt like forever for Cara Judd to find her forever home after she sold her small condo during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I got really excited until I started looking around and was devastated by what my options were,” Judd said. “I have a really good job, I had been saving money for a while, it is just me, so my own money I thought was going to go a lot further and when it didn’t, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
After months of searching, and knowing she wanted to be near her parents in West Newbury, Massachusetts, they had an idea: What if Judd built an accessory dwelling unit on the back of their home?
Judd fell in love with the idea.
“There are a lot of people that are probably like me that thought their money would go a little bit further, and there are just not a lot of options that are out there,” she added.
West Newbury allows ADUs, as they are called, and thanks to a new state law, many more cities and towns across Massachusetts will, as well.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the Affordable Housing Act into law last month.
The largest housing bill in Massachusetts history, the Affordable Homes Act, was signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey. Here’s how it’s meant to help ease the state’s housing crunch.
“It creates housing at no cost to the state, and it also creates opportunities in a lot of cities and towns,” said Secretary Edward Augustus of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Augustus and the commonwealth estimate the Affordable Housing Act will lead to 8,000-10,000 ADUs in the next five years.
“Taking some of the pressure off our housing market, creating more supply, which hopefully loosens up and hopefully creates some competition in that space,” Augustus said. “Cities and towns have questions, understandably so, so we are working closely with them on what the responsibilities of the town is to comply with this ordinance, and ways we can support them as they support homeowners who make this decision.”
Chris Lee started Backyard ADUs four-and-a-half years ago and says interest has exploded in the last month.
“We have just seen an explosion in demand, we are doing everything we can to keep up,” Lee said. “They are saying it is this, or nothing, there is not affordable rentals out there, there is not affordable condos out there.”
He said people are intrigued by the size, cost and timeline.
“It is absolutely skyrocketing, our inbound inquiries doubled last month,” Lee said.
Building a house can take 9-12 months. Most ADUs, which are assembled offsite and trucked in, can be built and finished in about 10 weeks, the company estimates.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors also supports the new act.
“We are really starting to see momentum build behind the production of more housing,” said Justin Davidson, general counsel and director of government affairs for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. “If we don’t build the housing we need to meet demand, we won’t have the state we all want to live and work in.”
Housing advocates say the Affordable Housing Act is a start, but more has to be done.
“ADUs are a really important strategy to create more homes, more opportunities in communities,” said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, head of Abundant Housing Massachusetts. “It is bad out there, it is a really bad situation in Massachusetts.”
“We are not going to solve our housing crisis, we are not going to address this housing shortage with this ADU law alone, it is one really important tool in the tool kit,” he added. “We need to think of other strategies to build more homes, to make homes more affordable and to help keep people housed.”
Judd is ready to move in to hers, knowing big things can come in small packages.
Massachusetts
Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit
Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.
Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.
Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”
Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.
“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”
Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.
“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”
The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.
It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.
Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.
Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.
The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”
“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”
Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.
He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”
It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.
Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”
Massachusetts
French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston
BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.
LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.
The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.
LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.
The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.
Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer
A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.
The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.
Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.
“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”
“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”
The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.
Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”
“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”
Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.
The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”
“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”
They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.
“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”
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