Waiting on Boston Housing
Waiting on Boston Housing is frustrating. Not only is the waiting list long but the amount of time they tell you it’ll be before you actually get an apartment is either inaccurate or a ridiculous time frame.
I was informed that my expected wait time was 6 to 12 months on one development and up to five years on another. Over a year later, they are telling me my wait time is still 6 to 12 months on one development and five years on the other. Shouldn’t my wait time have changed? Would they tell me five more years if I called five years from now?
It’s great that Boston Housing provides housing for those who are struggling. However, I feel as though Boston Housing doesn’t have the slightest idea of how long it’ll be before applicants on their waiting list will be housed. They give out inaccurate wait times and outrageous time frames, like up to five years.
What Boston Housing needs to do is get more housing, get applicants housed faster, and come up with a system where they can accurately calculate how long the wait will be for applicants. In the meantime, they should at least have the decency to tell applicants they don’t know how long it’ll be, instead of giving out inaccurate times. Then applicants will be able to plan around it, take another route, or explore other options if possible.
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If you think Boston Housing is difficult to deal with...
If you think Boston Housing is difficult to deal with, try Newton. It's an average 20-year wait, with disabled housing they ONLY have 1 bedroom units so a disabled parent with kids can't get an appropriate unit, you are ONLY allowed to call on Fridays and ONLY allowed to ask what your number is on 'the list', and you are NOT allowed to ask questions. If you ask questions, they hang up on you.
If you try to report them to the Mayor, you find that the city is not in charge of the agency. In fact, NOBODY is in charge of the agency, not the city or the state, or even HUD. They report to nobody. They have a board that holds "public" meetings but they are at 7:30 am in an undisclosed location. So attending is impossible.
They do not accept emergency applications for illness or disability. They do not tell you how to find the private units in town. Their web site is filled with lies that they acknowledge are lies when you talk to them.
There is NO CHANCE of ever getting housing in Newton unless you know someone working in the authority or you're related to someone. They do not check once you have a unit, so a single person can be living in a 3-bedroom unit for YEARS and they will do nothing.
They are the most crooked agency except for the Department of the Interior under George Bush that I've ever seen and there is NO RECOURSE to make changes. Or complain. Now that is an agency impossible to deal with!
Wow, margalit! I had no idea
Wow, margalit! I had no idea Newton Housing was so awful. Something definitely must be done. And that public hearings at undisclosed locations? Ridiculous! How can what they do be considered fair housing? Sounds like they're just trying to keep people in need out.
Newton Housing is Really Corrupt
I am eligible for Newton homeowner program but they made it impossible kept saying give them this and that and that they would the approve me and when I did came up with something else on and on again till I finally gave up so now I am somewhere unsafe
I have to add that I have
I have to add that I have been told that they don't have my name on the wait list. It's as if my application just disappeared. And I worked alot of hours with a housing advocate and saw that my file was about an inch thick at the time. This was 2+1/2 years ago. I had called a few months ago and was told my name wasnt in the system. I went back to my advocate and was told that she would look for it. I have made a dozen calls and got nowhere. Basically I just think she just says stuff to make me go away. In the meantime almost 3 years have gone by and nothing. So frustrating and so scary knowing I could lose my apartment at anytime. I feel very lost.
Wow that is horrible!!!! I
Wow that is horrible!!!! I hope everything works out for you in he long run.
Boston Housing wait list
Dear Kj,
I agree that you have the right to receive more accurate information on your wait for housing. While this may not help you get permanent housing more quickly it will help you be mentally prepared. I suggest you contact your city council representative and share this idea with him or her. You can look this up at www.wheredoivotema.com.
Good luck!
Ruthie
It's always something with Boston Housing!!!
After waiting and waiting Boston Housing finally calls me this month saying that my name has topped the list....I go in and they have me fill out a second application. While reviewing all my information the worker sees that I've been living in a shelter outside of Boston for that past two years and tells me I'm no longer a resident of Boston therefore I have to go back on the waiting list because that changes my status. Boy was that a let down!!!!! It's always something.
Unfortunately, a large part
Unfortunately, a large part of the problems having to do with Boston Housing Authority stem from the fact that they are dealing with such a massive number of applicants and units. According to their own website, the BHA currently houses 10% of the entire population of Boston. As is the case with many agencies that grow that large in size, the customer service end of things really suffers as a result.
As someone who has worked with housing programs in various capacities for the past five years, there are a few things I recommend for people to get involved and really create change:
1. Complaints regarding the housing authorities should actually go to your Congressional Reps and Senators if you are getting nowhere with the agency directly. The vast majority of the money that these programs receive comes from HUD at the federal level, so taking it up to your city councilor or state reps won't get you very far. When they have nothing to do with the funding, they can be more easily dismissed.
2. Each of the LHA's (Local Housing Authorities) is required to submit regular Action Plans to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As part of this process, it is REQUIRED that they have a public review period of no less than 30 days which they have to announce. They typically have to hold at least one open public hearing and then also allow people to submit written comments up until the comment closing period (the end of the 30 days). After this is complete, they must RESPOND to each of the comments submitted. If you know for a fact that your city or town's housing authority is not following this procedure, this is something else that needs to be reported to your Congressional Reps and Senators. You can also file a complaint to HUD directly on this matter because it means that they are in violation of their contracts.
Unfortunately, in the times we're living in presently, funding for new housing opportunities is scarce. As I always tell my own clients, I don't have a back pocket full of vouchers and there are no magic opportunities out there where I can get someone a subsidy overnight. However, diligent housing search on your part which includes keeping track of the places you have applied and checking your status every 6 months or so for the waiting lists you are already on is still your best bet for getting housed. Good luck to all those who are searching. Hopefully change is coming soon, but in the meantime, keep up the fight!
BBC
The Boston Housing Authority
The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) is pleased to announce the re-opening of its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program waiting lists for Priority One applicants. Priority One applicants are those families and individuals in most urgent need of housing such as pressure washers victims of domestic violence, homelessness, displacement by fire or condemned housing and no fault eviction. The BHA’s Section 8 waiting list has been wine racks closed since May 7, 2004 due to federal funding cuts to the Section 8 program. Thanks to careful management by the BHA and some restored funding, the waiting list will be reopened to a the first 8,000 applicants for a two-week period in October. In order to provide all prospective Priority One granite countertops applicants with an equal and fair opportunity to submit an application, the BHA will accept applications from October 16 through October 31, 2006. The BHA will use a computerized random lottery process to determine the exact application date and time for the purpose of placement on its waiting list in addition to the self-certified Priority One status.