Housing Board Gets Mostly Good News

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The Board of the Franklin Housing Authority met Monday afternoon at the Central Park Terrace Community Room with all members present.

After coming to order, Director Lisa Audette noted that the planned presentation on maintenance activities would have to be postponed until the next meeting, due to a death in the presenter’s family.

So, instead, the board heard a report from Fee Accountant Richard Shaw, from Milne, Shaw, & Robillard, PC, reviewing the agency’s finances.

While much of the discussion was technical, Shaw painted a picture of a well-run organization that maintains sufficient surpluses and is generally operating well. He lauded Audette, citing her in particular, for always going after available grants and other monies. For instance, he noted, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) allows a housing authority to collect a 10 percent management fee for overseeing a large project, such as the major, post-fire repairs made to one of Franklin’s properties recently. Claiming the fee takes patience and paperwork, which Audette completed, earning the authority an extra $10,000 that can be applied where needed. “I tell other authorities about this and recommend they call Lisa to learn how to do it, but they never do,” said Shaw.

“I work for about 70 different housing authorities and I would put this one in the top five – at least,” he added.

Shaw also discussed some of the shifting regulations coming out of DHCD and made recommendations regarding how to successfully work with those regulations.

After his report, which the board voted to accept, the Board reviewed and approved accounts payable and credit card charges incurred by the Authority.

Then Audette delivered her Director’s Report. Some of the highlights included successfully getting a substantial weatherization grant for Norfolk Housing Authority, which is managed by Franklin under contract. She also talked about the wait list (now standing at over 12,000) and problems with tenants. The Authority is owed more than $40,000 at this point, though many tenants are just passing the 30 days in arrears mark.

There are exceptions however. In one instance she cited a tenant left without notice in November but did not move their belongings. "And this is when other people are living in cars because they don't have a place to live," she added. After various court proceedings, their mandatory move-out date has been extended now to March 31. And they owe for many months of rent. Audette assured the Board that the Authority’s law firm would be pursuing the matter and would seek to take a portion of the individual’s earnings once they are employed, until the debt is satisfied.

Audette said that situation and others like it, including a recent death, often leave substantial quantities of material in the housing unit that must be removed and disposed of by the Authority, often at considerable expense.

Christopher Lennon, Tenant Board Member, asked whether incoming tenants could be made to sign an agreement that any post-tenancy cleanup fees would be their responsibility, but Audette said that would be illegal in Massachusetts.

Audette and Chair George Danello also provided an updated on the recently acquired Summer Street property and announced that the first estimates of rehab costs seemed to have been too high, and now look to total about $190,000.

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