Despite "Push" Thousands of Public Housing Units Still Vacant

Last summer,
ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, and WBUR shared the results of an investigation that found nearly 2,300 of 41,500 state-funded apartments were vacant — most for months or years — despite a housing shortage so severe that Gov. Maura Healey called it a state of emergency.

In responses, state officials, in October, announced a “90-day push” to reduce the number of vacancies in state public housing by the end of the year. At the time, Fatima Razzaq, acting director of the public housing division of the Department of Housing and Livable Communities, said in a memo. “We recognize the shared responsibility in tackling this challenge and are therefore initiating a 90-day push to assist with reoccupying units.”

In particular, Razzaq wrote, the state will closely monitor local housing authorities with vacancy rates above 10%. State housing management specialists will conduct weekly check-ins and provide technical assistance.

State housing officials  also planned to visit local agencies where units are empty for more than 60 days — the amount of time the state allows local authorities to fill a vacancy — because they need certain types of repairs.

Alas, according to new reporting by ProPublica and WBUR, the net result of the “push” has been disappointing. According to the latest data available, the number of vacancies has dropped by only 72.

At this point, the state doesn’t appear to have responded to that report and there is no word on whether there is a ‘Plan B.’