Study highlights 3 sites with potential for affordable housing

A feasibility study commissioned by the Newton Affordable Housing Trust identified three publicly owned sites in Newton that could present opportunities to explore future development of affordable housing:

• Norumbega Gardens (52 Ash Street, Auburndale)
• Crescent Street municipal yard (Auburndale)
• Newton Housing Authority parcels (Beaconwood Road, Hargrave Road, and Wilson Road in Four Corners/Newton Centre)

According to the study, these three properties together could potentially yield a net increase of 83 to 163 new housing units.

The study, conducted by the planning and design firm DREAM Collaborative, reviewed nearly 175 parcels owned by the City of Newton, the Newton Housing Authority, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to evaluate whether publicly owned land could potentially support new housing to expand affordable housing options while preserving existing housing.

The study focused on identifying sites that might accommodate housing for households earning below 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), with particular attention to homes serving households at or below 60 percent of AMI.

An initial screening eliminated conservation land, parks and green spaces, school properties, and sites unsuitable for housing development such as flood-prone parcels, and sites that were too small or lacked adequate street access. Housing Authority properties were also evaluated using floor-area ratio (FAR), a measure of density comparing the total building floor area to the size of the parcel.

Following an initial screening, DREAM Collaborative worked with the Newton Planning Department, Newton Housing Authority, and the Newton Affordable Housing Trust to narrow the list through a series of meetings during the spring and summer of 2025. That produced a short list of 19 candidate sites, from which 10 sites were selected for conceptual site planning and “test-fit” exercises exploring potential building layouts and development scenarios. Of those, three sites were suggested to be High Priority.

Three sites selected as High Priority

The study identified three sites with strong potential to explore affordable housing development, based on site size, redevelopment potential, and the ability to build on land already under public control. Using standard building typologies, the study developed low-yield and high-yield scenarios for each site.

Norumbega Gardens, located at 52 Ash Street in Auburndale, is a Newton Housing Authority property currently providing 57 units of affordable housing on about 103,000 square feet of land. Because the property has a relatively low floor-area ratio compared with its lot size, the feasibility study explored whether redevelopment or reconfiguration of the site could accommodate additional housing while maintaining affordability protections. The study explored layouts that could accommodate approximately 110 to 140 housing units, depending on building design and site configuration.

The Crescent Street municipal yard in Auburndale is a City-owned parcel of about 98,000 square feet, currently used for municipal operations, with no units of housing. The study noted that it may be possible to explore development of 12 to 30 housing units on part of the property while maintaining municipal operations. (This parcel had been considered in the past for an 8-unit affordable development, but that proposal had not received support.)

Beaconwood Road, Hargrave Road, and Wilson Circle in Four Corners / Newton Centre already contain a total of 20 units of affordable housing managed by the Newton Housing Authority and located near neighborhood retail, services, and transit. The feasibility study indicated that the combined parcels, totaling 102,000 square feet, could potentially accommodate approximately 38 to 70 housing units, depending on building layout and design.

The study’s conceptual site planning shown here explored possible development scenarios, but the study did not propose specific development projects.

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