Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Housing authority reform legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Deval Patrick is intended to encourage innovation and regionalization and increases reporting requirements for public housing authorities in Massachusetts.
The law requires the state Department of Housing and Community Development to create a comprehensive training program focused on proper management for all members of local housing authority boards.
The DHCD will also create a performance-based monitoring program for all housing authorities. The department will establish a program based on best practices in collaborative capital, maintenance and repair planning that is open to all housing authorities, with participation required for housing authorities with fewer than 500 state-aided units.
Each local housing authority will be required to submit an annual plan to the state. Each housing authority also must contract with an external auditor, and must not use the same auditor for more than five consecutive years without obtaining a waiver.
The DHCD will develop a voluntary regional public housing innovation program open to up to four regional housing authorities, with the goal of achieving innovative models for public housing development and management.
The DHCD will implement a centralized waitlist for state-aided public housing within a year.
A housing authority bill filed by the governor last year would have consolidated local public housing authorities into six regional authorities, each with oversight of approximately 12,000 units in 40 municipalities. The bill, however, was met with significant criticism from the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.
There are 240 local public housing authorities across the Commonwealth.