MA Governor wants to dismantle local housing authorities

[hilldweller]

Interesting controversy brewing over local housing authorities in MA. Governor has had it with the political hacks.

Story here:
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013...zMN/story.html

[luckless pedestrian]

For the Commonwealth, this might be a good idea but yeah he will run into violent resistance due to home rule political attitudes...

[imaplanner]

Didn't this already happen in Michigan?

[mgk920]

I'd love to see Wisconsin do that with its obscene overabundance of local governments.

Mike

[Gotta Speakup]

I hope the governor succeeds. Massachusetts needs to break the stranglehold of 351 local governments, each with total home rule rights.

[Cardinal]

I'd love to see Wisconsin do that with its obscene overabundance of local governments.

Mike

I agree. We are one of the states that has too many local government entities. Towns are especially a problem. Either incorporate with all of the responsibilities of a village/city, or simply be a rural part of the county.

Here, housing authorities or community development and housing authorities are created by city or village governments and are not a separate entity. While they do have some powers granted to them, they can only be executed with the approval of the city council/village board.

[hilldweller]

I hope the governor succeeds. Massachusetts needs to break the stranglehold of 351 local governments, each with total home rule rights.

The opposing view, of course, is that housing ought to be in the purview of towns/cities rather than having the state decide what's best for them. And there is the question of whether things will be better off under state control.

[Masswich]

Virtually all of what public housing authorities do is manage existing housing, for which there is considerable economies of scale. Consolidating them makes sense for that reason. However, some housing authorities also are starting to develop new affordable housing like CDC's, which are operated by subsidiaries. That innovation might be lost with consolidation.

Mass. also is one of only 2 states with state public housing (although a lot of it was federalized under a loophole under ARRA) so the stakes are higher than in many states.

My thought is that the best housing authorities, like Brookline and Cambridge, should remain independent but most of the others should be consolidated. But do I think it will happen? No, too much political pushback.