During deliberations in the U.S. Senate, the chamber's parliamentarian blocked language that would have repealed the Johnson Amendment, a provision in the current U.S. tax code that prohibits charitable organizations from endorsing candidates for political office.
"It’s a very tough and competitive situation for Low Income Housing Tax Credit Projects right now — a situation exacerbated by the uncertainty that has been created at the national level."
-- Tim Geller, executive director of the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
The meeting was a window into what it’s like to run multiple low income housing complexes with limited resources under state oversight by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
The 8-acre parcel on the Housatonic River has sat for more than 20 years, scraggly and undeveloped, and is still loaded with chlorinated organic compounds like dioxins and PCPs. The site’s owner, Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire (CDC), will hold a public information meeting at the Mason Librarytoday (Wednesday, Jan. 4), at 5:30 p.m. to provide current plans for the site and gather public input.
In Housatonic Flag Rock resident Ariane Blanchard and her neighbor say systemic mold infestation has created a toxic building syndrome that has made them sick. Remedies ordered by the Board of Health can’t be used because, her physician says, they will increase airborne mold.
The town of Lenox received $10,000 from the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Planning Assistance Toward Housing (PATH) program in order to to update its Housing Production Plan.
The solar field below the Rising Paper Mill in Housatonic, built last year on a brownfield, is saving the town and the Berkshire Hills Regional School District each between $70,000 and $90,000 in annual electricity costs.
While Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire (CDC) has presented its plan for 45 units of affordable housing to several boards, the Zoning Board of Appeals is the one that has to decide whether to issue CDC its comprehensive permit.
“It is my observation that it’s too bad that [the affordable housing] is wedged between a sewer waste plant and a toxic waste field.”
--- ZBA member Michael Wise
Donors who give gifts of $1,000 or more to the Community Development Corporation's affordable housing program will receive a 50 percent credit toward their Massachusetts state taxes.
