Featured

Habitat for Humanity provides affordable homes for a select group of Malden residents

By Jack Drees Habitat for Humanity has a presence here in Malden. As you stroll down Main Street near the Melrose line, you’ll come across two new townhouses next to a construction site. Several Malden families have new affordable homes thanks to Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston. An independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, the Massachusetts non-profit has given housing to people with low to moderate incomes since 1987. The group, which has thousands of volunteers, buys land or restores existing buildings and then passes the houses on to people in need. Habitat Greater Boston’s coverage area includes Boston and 25 surrounding communities. To date, the organization has built homes in Boston, Belmont, Malden, Needham, and Newton. Upcoming projects include plans for affordable homes in Dorchester, Roslindale, and Weston. With the city’s first project completed in 2022, Malden is officially a part of the Habitat family. The project resulted in two single-family homes on Main Street. Each one is complete with three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, one full, and one-half bathroom. Also in […]

Featured

Malden navigates growing housing crisis

By Maile Blume Longtime Malden residents are being priced out of their homes and separated from their neighbors because of an ongoing rise in the cost of housing. In response, Malden is taking steps to address the affordable housing shortage that has emerged throughout the city. A recent film created by community members in the “Filmbuilding Malden” program – coordinated through Urban Media Arts – celebrates the diversity that characterizes Malden, but also explores how the city’s changing housing landscape is displacing the very residents that make the city so diverse. “I’m always proud of how diverse we are, but I feel that with the changes in our community, we’re pricing out working-class families that cannot afford to continue to live in a place where they have given so much and have brought just an intangible value,” said resident Zatcha Montes in the film “Green Elephant,” one of the five films in the series that explore the question “Who is Malden?” “We had a friend who recently moved who could not afford to live here, […]

Education

ELECTION 2019: Questions for the Candidates: Week 4 of 5 – Housing Needs

  By Prisco Tammaro The 2019 elections in Malden are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. To provide Malden voters with information, Neighborhood View is running a series of “Quality of Life” questions and answers with the city council and mayoral candidates. Suggestions for questions were provided via Facebook on a Malden (MA) Politic’s poll; 10 questions were formulated by the moderators in consultation with Neighborhood View and sent to all  candidates. Each candidate was given 150 words to respond to each question. Every effort was made to reach out to every candidate. Below are answers to Question 7 and 8 which focus on housing needs in Malden. Please note: all opinions here are those of the candidates and Neighborhood View has not checked the accuracy of these comments. See links for previous questions at the bottom of this page.  QUESTION 7: What percentage of units in new developments would be allocated to affordable housing?  MAYOR – Incumbent – GARY CHRISTENSON Several communities have adopted inclusionary zoning to leverage the […]

Featured

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Affordable housing and public comment

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A preliminary election on Sept. 19 determined the final candidates. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media,  developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails.  This week’s questions are about public comment periods before City Council meeting and affordable housing.   This is the fifth and  final installment. For previous questions and answers, see links at the botton of this page. Question 1:  Would you support a public comment portion before all City Council meetings, but after any special guest, similar to the School Committee? Question 2: According to state records, 10.2% of Malden’s housing is affordable. If the city’s rate of affordable housing drops […]