Tools
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, August 2021
Carol Roberts, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing What makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion, and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Carol Roberts, a long time board member of the local tenants organization in Caffrey Towers in Brockton, MA and also serves as a board member of the Brockton Housing Authority.
Facing an Eviction Informational Videos
COVID Eviction Legal Help ProjectLearn what to do if you are facing an eviction in Massachusetts.
Mass Law Reform Institute Annual Plan Webinar, Recorded June 2021
Molly Broderick. MLRIEvery Local Housing Authority (LHA) is required to prepare and post an Annual Plan. This Plan includes the LHA's budget, capital improvement plan, maintenance information, a list of policies, a list of waivers, and more. Residents have the right to weigh in, especially Local Tenant Organizations!
DHCD Annual Plan Webinar, Recorded June 2021
Paul McPartland, DHCDEvery Local Housing Authority (LHA) is required to prepare and post an Annual Plan. This Plan includes the LHA's budget, capital improvement plan, maintenance information, a list of policies, a list of waivers, and more. Residents have the right to weigh in, especially Local Tenant Organizations!
Mixed-Finance Redevelopment of State-Aided Public Housing Webinar, Recorded December 2020
Robert Muollo, DHCDRedeveloping state public housing is a complex, multi-faceted and inclusionary process involving many stakeholders that takes vision and coordination to achieve the best outcome. By improving one’s understanding of the redevelopment process, residents can become better empowered to participate, distinguish fact from myth, and drive community priorities.
Local Housing Authority Capital Improvement Plans, Recorded May 2020
Fatima Razzaq, DHCDEvery Housing Authority has a Capital Improvement Plan which lays out the major improvements the authority will make to its properties in the next five years. These plans have a huge impact on residents’ quality of life and all residents have the right to weigh in. Resident Board Members especially need to understand the details of a Capital Improvement Plan so they can make their perspectives known to the Board.
Public Housing Rent Policies during COVID-19, Recorded May 2020
Judith Liben, Mass Law Reform Institute (MLRI)Watch Judith Liben of Mass Law Reform Institute review Public Housing Rents during the COVID-19 Emergency.
Local Housing Authority Annual Plans, Recorded May 2020
Annette Duke, Mass Law Reform Institute (MLRI)Every Local Housing Authority (LHA) is required to prepare and post an Annual Plan. This Plan includes the LHA's budget, capital improvement plan, maintenance information, a list of policies, a list of waivers, and more. Residents have the right to weigh in, especially Local Tenant Organizations! Watch this video to learn more.
South End Affordable Housing Tour
Corcoran CenterSouth End Affordable Housing Tour with Vince O'Donnell
National Low Income Housing Profiles by State
National Low Income Housing CoalitionOur Housing Profiles provide a one-page snapshot of the information advocates need to make the case for socially just housing policy. The State Housing Profiles are perfect to take with you when meeting with a state elected official or U.S. Senator. Take the Congressional District Housing Profile for your congressional district with you when you meet with your U.S. Representative.
MA Self-Guided Eviction Tool
Greater Boston Legal ServicesThis completely free guided interview is for Massachusetts tenants who are being evicted. It is estimated to take between 25 and 90 minutes for a typical tenant to use on their own. It will help you make sure that you respond to your landlord's eviction case correctly.
State Support for Local School Construction: Leveraging Equity and Diversity
Lauren Mittman, Nikhil De, and Philip TegelerHistorically, state support for suburban school construction facilitated white flight and metropolitan segregation. The least we can do today is think more carefully about the impacts of future school construction funding. PRRAC has prepared a policy brief on this question, based on a state-by-state survey of current practices.
Best Practices for RAD "Choice-Mobility" Implementation
Poverty & Race Research Action CouncilThe Rental Assistance Demonstration has become the most significant public housing redevelopment program in the U.S., bringing new funds to support aging properties around the country. One essential element of the program is that, after conversion, all tenants have a right to request a portable Housing Choice Voucher, and move to a community of their choice (thus opening up their apartment to another eligible family on the waiting list). Few housing authorities have worked out plans for implementation of this Choice-Mobility feature of the program, so we have developed a guidance document for PHAs and advocates, based on extensive policy research and interviews.
Fifty Years Of “The People v. HUD”
Poverty & Race research Action Council (PRRAC)HUD has benefited enormously from strong civil rights advocacy, and many of HUD’s most important regulatory guidelines have emerged from this advocacy. We offer this selected timeline as a tribute to this ongoing history and, we hope, an inspiration to a new generation of civil rights and tenant activists.
COVID Community Data Lab
Boston IndicatorsWe’re scanning the best available data sources to analyze how our communities have changed since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in early March. (Since public health experts are covering the dynamics of the virus spread, we focus here mostly on non-virus-related areas.) We’re looking at non-traditional sources like call volumes to the state’s 211 social service call center and road traffic through Mass Pike toll gantries. None of them are perfect, and there’s a lot of other data we wish we had. But taken together these sources paint a picture of how much our day-to-day lives have been altered across a few key domains.
COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard
Eviction LabSafe, stable, and decent housing has always been central to ensuring health and stability. Today, with the United States focused on containing the COVID-19 pandemic, the broader and longstanding issue of income and housing insecurity has quickly become paramount to the health of an entire nation.To better understand the steps states have taken to prevent homelessness during and after the pandemic, the Eviction Lab and Columbia Law School’s Professor Emily Benfer have developed a policy scorecard for each state, distilling the contents of thousands of newly-released emergency orders, declarations, and legislation into a clear set of critical measures included in, and left out of, state-level pandemic responses related to eviction and housing.
Housing Matters
Urban InstituteHousing Matters is an online resource for the most rigorous research and practical information on how a quality, stable, affordable home in a vibrant community contributes to individual and community success.
DataTown
Massachusetts Housing Partnership's Center for Housing DataThe site compiles community-level information from various data sources for all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns, and visualizes that data in graphics and charts so it's easy to understand, print out and bring to a community discussion.
Homes for Families: Family Housing Resource Guide Massachusetts
Brooke Murphy, UMass Boston Master of Public Administration Graduate StudentAll of the resources, terms, definitions, subsidies and programs one should know to create affordable family housing in Massachusetts.
Green + Healthy Property Management: A Guide for Multifamily Affordable Housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)LISC created this Guide to help affordable housing owners define and pursue measures to reduce the use of energy, water, and harmful chemicals in their properties, reduce waste generated on site, create healthier living environments for residents, and reduce the carbon and environmental footprint associated with residential properties.
Equitable Development / Brownfields Planning
Groundwork USAGroundworks USA's technical assistance team offers customized strategy, tools, and peer support for those in brownfield-affected communities seeking a more inclusive planning and redevelopment agenda in which everyone can prosper.
Building Blocks: Connecting People, Places and Policies
Enterprise Community PartnersA podcast for thought-provoking conversations about the current issues, trends, ideas and big questions facing the affordable housing and community development field in the United States.
Housing Toolbox for Mass Communities
MHPStrategies and best practices for the creation and preservation of affordable housing, with guides, tools and resources for local boards & committees, planners, municipal staff, developers, and volunteers.
The Cost of Affordable Housing: Does it Pencil Out?
Urban Institute and the National Housing ConferenceThis interactive online tool illustrates how charging rents affordable to low-income families makes it difficult to finance affordable housing without subsidy.
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Mapping Tool
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentMapping tool from HUD allows communities to explore race disparities and fair housing considerations in their area
Assessment of Fair Housing Tool
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentLocal governments can use this tool to assess their communities' compliance with the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule
Ready to Respond: Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience
Enterprise Community PartnersGuidebooks includes strategies for protecting buildings and residents during natural disasters
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule Guidebook
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentGuidebook explains the new AFFH rule and how to plan communities in compliance with fair housing guidelines
MassHousing HomeOwnership Video Series
MassHousingVideo series is designed to help would-be home buyers and organizations who assist homebuyers
Addressing Community Opposition to Affordable Housing Development: A Fair Housing Toolkit
Housing Alliance of PennsylvaniaLearn about how to effectively address the concerns of those opposed to affordable housing development in their communities
Consolidated Planning/CHAS Data
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy data can be used to explore the extent of housing problems and housing needs, particularly for low income households.
The Impact of LIHTC in Massachusetts
Affordable Housing Rental A.C.T.I.O.N.Factsheet covers the positive impact of LIHTC in Massachusetts from 1986-2013
2015 Enterprise Green Communities Criteria
EnterpriseCriteria required to become a certified green community from Enterprise
American Housing Survey
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentSurvey data collected by the U.S. government on housing
Preserving, Protecting and Expanding Affordable Housing
Change Lab SolutionsThe toolkit provides information on housing market trends and research on the links between rising housing costs and poor health outcomes.
Massachusetts Housing Toolbox
Massachusetts Housing Partnership and CHAPAThis website explains strategies that local officials and volunteers can use to garner support for affordable housing
How Housing Matters
Urban Land Institute, MacArthur FoundationWebsite showcases research demonstrating the importance of affordable housing
Fair Housing Toolkit
Metropolitan Area Planning CouncilThe Fair Housing Toolkit brings together available resources to help appointed and elected leaders, municipal planning, housing and development officials, developers, citizen board members, and other volunteers understand how to affirmatively further fair housing.
Low Impact Development Toolkit
Metropolitan Area Planning CouncilDevelopment methods including rain gardens, bioretention, pervious pavement, and green roofs. The toolkit also includes model bylaw language and an LID codes checklist.
Mixed Use Zoning Toolkit
Metropolitan Area Planning CouncilThis basic guide to mixed use zoning presents the fundamentals you need to plan a mixed use bylaw.