Campaigning door to door in public housing, last year and through the years,
I have met many very fine people who are confined — either by their
infirmity or by the high cost of housing — to cramped, noisy apartments.
For the many in public housing who have substantial disabilities and receive
very limited personal care, the apartment is like their jail cell — they
cannot, in practice, get out. Similarly, the lack of affordable private
housing frustrates many families in public housing who strive month after
month to find a way to build enough liquidity to move out of public housing,
but keep falling behind.
Years of inadequate maintenance funding have degraded state owned public
housing, and the physical conditions are notably worse in state funded
housing than in federal, private-subsidized or locally-funded housing.
I have been part of a movement in the legislature to generally increase
maintenance funding for public housing and I think that the next budget when
finally released will show a renewed commitment to public housing.
I have also have worked closely with the excellent and committed board of
the Belmont Housing Authority to bring new maintenance funding to
state-owned public housing in Belmont. We have been very impressed with the
responsiveness of the new administration to housing concerns.
For specifics on local improvements, please see the following clip from the
Belmont Citizen Herald: http://www.townonline.com/belmont/news/x296330557.
That clip may leave one question for those who are familiar with Belmont
Housing, and here is the answer: A decision on funding for the elevator at
Waverley Oaks is due in the next few weeks and we are following the process
closely.
I am also regularly visiting the public housing projects in the Cambridge
portion of my district and working with Cambridge officials to support
improvements there. (There isn’t any housing in the Arlington portion of
the 24th Middlesex district.)
I will continue to make service to public housing tenants a top day-to-day
priority.