Housing Authority Board Meets, Updated on State Mandates, Affordable Home

Above, 813 Summer Street, on track to join Franklin's stock of affordable housing.

The Franklin Housing Authority met Monday afternoon at Central Park Terrace. In addition to reviewing spending, turnover, and other financial matters, the board also got a lesson in how the enormous wait list for housing is managed.

According to director Lisa Audette, the  Franklin housing  wait list now stands at 11,224. Because of specific scoring system for prioritizing who gets housing, there is a lengthy process involved in vetting each applicant. "We usually look at a batch of about 100 each month," she explained.  But not only are number way up from the past, but the "quality" is down. "Now that people can go online and submit an application, it is much easier, she contends. And people are sometimes less than  truthful, claiming a need for emergency housing that their actual circumstances don't support.  Or failing to mention the fact that they lost a previous housing option because of failure to pay rent. 

The upshot, for the Housing Authority, Audette explained, is that her assistant, who works some 30 hours a week, used to be able to take care of the vetting process in a few hours each week but now spends nearly all of her time reviewing submissions, checking facts, etc., in accordance with state requirements.

Audette reported that a furnace replacement project is nearly complete. Some units had temporary heating units during the project but no one went without heat, she said.

After updating the board on the operations of Norfolk public housing, managed under contract by Audette and her team, the  Board got an update on 813 Summer Street.

Chairman George Danello said the Authority had been working on the matter for the better part of a decade and it was being brought to resolution with help from attorneys Mike Doherty, Richard Cornetta and State Rep. Jeff Roy. The ownership of the property was tangled and for a time the underlying land was owned by Metacomet Land Trust. Now, the Authority will be gaining ownership of a three-bedroom home.

However, Audette warned that it had been vacant for at least eight years. Danello, for his part, predicted at least five months of repairs and renovations before it can be occupied.