Say it ain’t so: New England triple-deckers face high foreclosure rates

My family lived on the top floor of a wood-framed triple-decker in Lawrence, Massachusetts till I was five. My father was raised in a triple-decker a few blocks away. My grandparents, who immigrated from Armenia, lived in that triple-decker for most of their lives. It wasn’t until I moved away to go to college that I realized what a regional fixture the triple-decker is. They’re as much a part of New England’s urban landscape as, well, Dunkin' Donuts franchises and packies.

Which is why I found this hard-times story last week so sad. In a nutshell: Absentee and negligent landlords have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, and let many of these houses to go to seed. A good number of 3-decker neighborhoods are also in blighted communities, which puts them at even greater risk of falling prey to neglect and the wrecking ball. Adding insult to injury: Thieves have been plundering empty ones for copper pipe.

Many of these multifamily homes are now 100 years old or more. So they’re bound to wear out without regular upkeep. If I had the means, I’d snatch one up and give it the TLC it deserves. In the meantime, I’m glad to hear that Boston is preserving its 15,000 3-deckers as affordable housing. I hope other New England communities follow in their footsteps.