Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Edward Augustus speaks to reporters Thursday, June 1, 2023 in the governor's office. Photo by Sam Drysdale | State House News Service
Following a wide-ranging investigation by WBUR and Pro Publica that found the state’s housing authorities had around 2,300 vacant, state-subsidized affordable apartments, the Healey administration announced it’s launching a “90-day push” to get tenants into empty units.
The WBUR investigation centered on a $6.8 million statewide application system created by former Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, following a 2014 directive from the state legislature, with the goal of simplifying how tenants found affordable housing. However the system, known by the acronym CHAMP, has instead increased wait times and added a significant administrative burden for local housing authorities, WBUR found.
The core of the push the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities announced in a letter to local housing authorities over the weekend includes a centralized screening process contracted out to marketing firm Archipelago Strategies Group.
“In a housing crisis, it is critical that EOHLC take a more hands-on approach to the issues that we can immediately impact. We thank the Local Housing Authorities and [the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials] for working in partnership with us as we work to significantly decrease the number of vacant units over the next 90 days,” the administration said in a statement. “Centralized Screening will make a major impact on the speed with which units are filled. However, we decided to take an immediate action, knowing that it could take months for housing authorities to feel the relief we are confident it will bring.”
In addition, as part of the push, state officials will be assessing units deemed too damaged by tenants or time to be rented out to start a renovation process moving.
These state officials will also have a special focus on local housing authorities where more than 10 percent of their total units are vacant, including “weekly check-ins on progress, technical assistance, and facilitation” of the options housing authorities have to deal with vacancies in their portfolios, the administration’s announcement said.
The initiative announcement also encouraged local housing authorities to request budget exceptions to help cover the cost of the additional tenant screening that they’ll have to do once Archipelago Strategies Group completes its own review of the tenant application backlog.
