Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus stands with state Rep. Brian Ashe’s district legislative aide Candice Healy, East Longmeadow Housing Authority Director Bill Leahy, Administrative Assistant Jennifer Hutchinson and Office Manager Lynn Wilson before touring the housing authority.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
EAST LONGMEADOW — At the 166th stop on a tour of all housing authorities in the state, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus met with East Longmeadow Housing Authority Director Bill Leahy and his staff at the agency’s Quarry Hill offices.
Augustus called housing authorities “critically important” in providing options for people who are looking to downsize from single-family homes or age in place.
Many of the authorities he has visited share challenges, and Augustus said seeing the units in person helps the state identify areas where funding is needed. In the past, this has included renovating bathrooms to include “tub cuts” that make showers more accessible for those with mobility issues — a need the state might not have realized had the units not been seen firsthand. Similarly, he said it was after visiting tenants that the move was made to upgrade units as tenants move out, rather than disrupting them whenever the funding becomes available. “Those kinds of insights, I think, have come from being able to see it firsthand, which is different than if I was just reading a report,” Augustus said.
The East Longmeadow Housing Authority oversees 219 units and six family homes in three locations across town. Leahy said there is a wait list of three to five years for the units. Augustus commented that the state’s housing crisis has led to people signing up for waitlists at several housing authorities to maximize the likelihood that they will secure a unit.
Leahy said the tenants often spend time together. “We’re a great community. It’s very active,” he said. Many of the tenants also participate in programming at the Pleasant View Senior Center, with transportation for those without vehicles available through the Tri-Town Trolley.
Augustus asked about the services provided at the site. “We are not assisted living by any means,” Leahy said. He explained that the authority is stretched thin, with only himself, Administrative Assistant Jennifer Hutchinson and Office Manager Lynn Wilson for staff.
Hutchinson said the area nonprofit Greater Springfield Senior Services checks on the tenants periodically to help them connect with needed services, including Meals on Wheels, activities and medication.
The Quarry Hill site was built in 1977. Augustus asked about upgrades to the units. While the units are largely original, Leahy said that, as they turn over, they are refurbished with some updates in the kitchen and bath, and flooring is replaced as needed. The length of tenancy, and therefore the schedule of refurbishments varies widely, Leahy said.
Augustus toured an unoccupied unit. “This is as bad as it gets,” Leahy said of the apartment’s condition. The space consisted of a small living room, separated from a tight kitchen by a half-hall. To the left was a bedroom, sized to comfortably fit a full-sized bed. Attached to the bedroom was a three-piece bath. Leahy showed Augustus a large section of the linoleum floor that had been replaced after being damaged by sliding furniture. Augustus nodded, saying people who are downsizing often try to squeeze the belongings that had filled a single-family home into an efficiency apartment.
The units are outfitted with electric heat and utilities. Air conditioning is the responsibility of the tenant. However, as Augustus pointed out, there is not much space in the units to store a window-based air conditioner during the winter. The secretary said he is working on funding that would update the HVAC in housing authorities to use heat pumps, also called mini splits, which provide heat and air conditioning.
Generators are also needed by many housing authorities, although the community building at Quarry Hill is outfitted with one for emergencies.
Most of the units are rented by tenants aged 60 and over, but younger people with disabilities are also eligible. Six of the units at Quarry Hill are fully accessible, and all the units at Village Green, another housing authority property, are one-level. Aside from age and ability, finances are also a factor in tenant eligibility. People must make a maximum of 80% of the area median income, which in the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, is $38,280 annually for a single person. The unit’s rent is then calculated as 30% of a tenant’s monthly adjusted income. The remaining operating costs and all capital expenses associated with housing authorities are funded by the state.
“Massachusetts has 43,000 units of state-owned public housing. That’s more than any other state in the country. Seventy-thousand people live in those 43,000 units, because some of them are families. Sometimes, you’ll see a couple.” He said those people, who now pay 30% of their income for housing costs, “they would have to go out into the marketplace and see if they could find a unit that works for them, maybe accessible, first floor, whatever their needs might be. At that price point, it would be really hard.”
He added, “To me, job one is keeping what we’ve got, making sure it’s safe, it’s dignified and healthy, it’s invested in, so that we can make sure that the folks who really need this options, that it’s here and it’s here in the future.”
