Foot-dragging by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stalled a nonprofit’s investigation into whether millions of dollars spent to refurbish a Boston public housing development have fixed more than a decade of maintenance issues and health hazards.
MuckRock News, an independent news and government transparency website, said Wednesday it is still battling HUD after more than a year to obtain details of complaints about the Back of the Hill Apartments, where residents have long warned of unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
The complex received an extensive overhaul in 2008, funded by $11.8 million in loans from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency to fix “dire rehabilitation needs,” MuckRock said.
MuckRock filed a Freedom of Information Act request with HUD in June 2013 seeking details of complaints by public housing residents nationwide going back 10 years.
The agency’s initial response in August 2013 was to provide a chart showing the number of complaints from 2003 through mid-June 2013.
More than 46,000 complaints alleging poor maintenance, management problems, fraud and discrimination were filed in that 10-year period. About 5,300 were filed in 2012, the last year for which complete numbers were provided.
Of the complaints filed in 2012, 2,015 involved maintenance issues, roughly the same number that had been filed since 2008.
HUD provided no details.
MuckRock pressed its request, and in May, almost a year after the initial request was filed, HUD released its first batch of detailed records, about 100 pages out of almost 4,000 requested.
The initial release included only records through January 2003.
“Quality of life within public and subsidized housing is no idle matter,” MuckRock concluded. “Housing authorities coast to coast are grappling with aging facilities and looming budget cuts, and some are failing in their duty to protect resident health and safety.
“More than ever, the national low-income housing system requires transparency and accountability to prevent abuse and negligence, as well as bring past violations to light.”
To read the full MuckRock report, click here.
