Massachusetts has a huge waitlist for state-funded housing. So why are 2,300 units vacant? – Winnipeg Free Press
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Investigators have shed light on the public housing system in Massachusetts, which seems to be mismanaging millions of taxpayer dollars without providing services to the needy.
Deb Libby is running out of time to find a place to live. Libby, 56, moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, four years ago, in part to be closer to the doctors…
Massachusetts has about 184,000 people on a waitlist for the state’s public housing. Yet a WBUR and ProPublica investigation found that nobody is living in nearly 2,300 state-funded apartments, with most sitting empty for months or years due to state and local mismanagement. Units have been vacant for years because the state implemented a flawed online waitlist system and has provided insufficient funding for staff and building repairs.
Families are stuck in shelters or sleeping in their cars while a flawed state selection process and meager funding for renovations leave apartments empty for years.