Yearly Archives: 2015

For the second year in a row, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) named Boston the most energy-efficient city in the United States, according to its 2015 City Energy Efficiency Scorecard.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today publicly released the administration’s first progress report on achieving the housing production goals laid out in his ambitious housing plan, “Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030.” The plan, released in October 2014, called for increased transparency into housing policy, including quarterly releases of data and an end of year Annual Report. This is the first report in that series.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joined the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation (BCBSMF) to release Addiction and Recovery Services in the City of Boston, a Blueprint for Building a Better System of Care, a report on the current status of substance abuse and addiction in the City of Boston. The findings of the report will serve as a road map for the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services (ORS), the first-ever municipal-based office to focus on this issue. The Mayor also announced that Jennifer Tracey, a highly respected and experienced recovery expert, will head ORS.

Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) today joined 35 Democratic and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against H.R. 2353, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015. Below is a statement from Congressman Moulton.

Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash will join the Town of Framingham and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) at a special kickoff event announcing a new Neighborhood Master Plan project to revitalize Southeast Framingham on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 8 a.m. in the Pusan Road Community Center, located at 9 Pusan Rd. in Framingham.

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) have introduced a bipartisan bill directing the U.S. Department of Energy to quantify the cost savings from operational energy efficiency technologies in an effort to increase public and private use of these technologies, without creating any new programs or increasing government spending.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced nearly $39 million to support affordable housing developments in neighborhoods throughout Boston. The funding, which will create or preserve 1,194 housing units, is possible through $27 million in federal and local resources through the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) and $11.7 million in linkage funds through Boston's Neighborhood Housing Trust.

Berkshire Housing Development Corporation in Pittsfield, MA; Community Teamwork, Inc. in Lowell, MA; HAP Housing in Springfield, MA; Housing Assistance Corporation in Hyannis, MA; Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development in Lynn, MA; Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership in Boston, MA; RCAP Solutions, Inc. in Worcester, MA; South Middlesex Opportunity Council in Framingham, MA; South Shore Housing Development Corporation in Kingston, MA

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department today announced an agreement with J & R Associates, the owner and operator of the Royal Park Apartments in North Attleboro, Mass., to resolve allegations of discrimination against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The House budget funds the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and other housing programs at $442.2 million. The budget includes increased investments in proven programs that help keep families in their homes and prevent homelessness, including

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with J & R Associates, the owner and operator of the Royal Park Apartments in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, to resolve allegations of discrimination against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act

Rousseau, which owns the Horizons Living and Rehab Center in Brunswick, Maine, and previously provided administrative management services to the Amenity Manor skilled nursing facility in Topsham, Maine, entered into an agreement concerning claims for therapy purportedly provided by its subcontractor, RehabCare Group East, Inc. (RehabCare), a part of Kindred Healthcare, Inc. This settlement resolves allegations that Rousseau submitted, or caused the submission of, claims to Medicare that sought inflated amounts of reimbursement based on the provision of unreasonable, unnecessary, unskilled rehabilitation therapy

The City of Lawrence entered into a Consent Decree today with the Department of Justice to address violations of the Clean Water Act in connection with sewer overflows and the discharge of contaminated stormwater.

Yesterday, Mayor Martin J. Walsh joined Executive Director, Dion Irish, of the City of Boston Fair Housing and Equity Department to honor 12 winners of the Mayor’s 2015 Fair Housing Arts Contest, and the 2015 Fair Housing Landlord Award.

Today Mayor Martin J. Walsh celebrated the opening of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in the heart of Dudley Square. The $125 million state of the art facility is the new home of the Boston Public Schools headquarters with nearly 500 employees, centralizing BPS administrative staff and improving organizational synergy and constituent interaction. The building also includes the Roxbury Innovation Center, a startup incubator to connect Roxbury with the innovation economy, 18,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and common community areas