(NADD)
The current senior housing glut in Massachusetts could impact the tax revenues Sharon receives from this proposed project. CHAPA is particularly worried about this issue as they promote residential building. Therefore, they commissioned a comprehensive study in 2005 regarding age-restricted housing which includes Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), the type of project Brickstone is proposing.
According to CHAPA “the extraordinary number of units proposed in the region, and their concentration, exceeds what is likely to be absorbed in the near term, even under the most optimistic assumptions.” They also found that quote “there is especially high concentrations of activity in the South Shore.”
Brickstone and Town leaders stated that significant demand exists for CCRCs as evidenced by waiting lists. NADD members have personally spoken with at least fourteen of the CCRCs in Eastern Massachusetts and discovered that the majority do have vacancies. Additionally, CHAPA projected a very small number of seniors purchasing homes in age restricted communities through 2020. Developers in the communities of Hopkinton, Upton, Quincy, and Sharon are asking towns for relief from their age restricted zoning as they cannot fill the units.