the following podcast is producer sponsored by a community member the content views and opinions expressed are those of the participants and do not reflect those of b m c or the town of delma b m c welcomes your comments call  network i'm your host roger colton the belmont housing authority provide stable affordable housing to hundreds of belmont residents jackie martin executive director of the housing and if authority leads that effort jackie joins us today to talk about what is involved with being belmont's largest landlord thank you for having me jacki before we get started talking about the housing authority can you tell us a little bit about your journey in life how did you come to belmont now so i was born and raised in chelmsford i went to u n c charlotte or college when i came home from college i had the opportunity to work at a l five years while i was going to school at night to my law degree i decided to go forward with a law degree by seeing our in house counsel and what he was able to do to help people and also help the housing authorities and i thought it be a good use of my skills to obtain the further education from there i quit to take the bar exam passed on the st time and went into private practice for a little while but really was not feeling filled i really have a passion for public housing and i was able to join the reviewer housing authority as their director of housing management and i was working and from there there was an opportunity here in belmont and i'm very thankful to the board for putting their trust in me to run the day to day operations and we've been ppens but dave rogers is still then our new state representative and he's been our seeing representative for five or six years now tell us a little bit about the the the belmont our board they are in essence the belmont housing authority our portfolio includes one hundred and fifty four dollars conventional chapter six hundred and sixty seven senior and elder housing so those are your sherman gardens and we really oaks developments and then we have one hundred dollars units of family housing under the chapter two hundred and fifty dollars are two bedrooms and fifty or three bedrooms so for a total of two hundred and fifty four dollars conventional in addition to that we also have a duplex that has four bedrooms per each for a total of eight through the department of mental health on park lane we have forty seven dollars section eight federal boucher's and then we just obtained nine additional alternative housing vouchers for a total of ten so there's a real mixture really there is housing for the aged there is family housing there is disabled have seen and there are both section eight vouchers which means that those can be used for housing units other than units own by the housing authority itself remember that correctly yes so section eight vouchers the housing treats voucher can be used anywhere in the united states they're mobile they move with the resident whereas public housing the subsidies with the unit itself when people move in and out is there any way to characterize who lives in public housing i mean it's your neighbor it's your family member it's for whatever it may be  for whether it was you know they've retired and now they're on a fixed income and can't afford their previous whether it was a divorce you know or other means beyond their control such as someone got sick or what units given the need that number of units really isn't very big and the need for far outstrips the available units the available number of units you have correct i am currently on our waiting list we have about hundred and fifty four units do you ever put a time to people stay on that waiting that's or does the waiting list turn over so i'm trying to get my hand does that mean people can wait for ten years or for public housing and that's across you know massachusetts in part due to you know rents rising quicker than our living wage but we do do an update every two years so we make sure that people are still active on the list and want to be on the list and  people need to respond so that we know we have the right addresses and we can come in contact with them when it is time or when they're nearing the top of the list but yeah we do have a significant weight all across what do people do while they're there waiting if people need to be in public housing and yet they're on the waiting list would you folks do in the meantime so the way that the waiting list works is that there's priorities and then there priority are set out by regulation and all how i'll state it it housing follows the same priorities so if someone qualifies for an emergency they will jump the list even though someone has been on the list for a while but they have to be able to substantiate it with the verification that shows they meet the criteria in order to do so from there if you have different preferences so if you live in belmont if you're a veteran in belmont you're going to jump the list behind it goes emergencies transfers and then your applicants ok so it'll it helps you know how certain individuals but unfortunately you know it's up to the individual family or elder to support themselves while they're waiting for this you're you have seniors that work longer even though they have health issues because they can't support or they don't have the option to retire you have families where you know they're not quite sure where their kids are going to stay at night you know and that really affects children's  education and it you know can really make an impact on what someone does with their life now is there a difference between family housing and the housing for the  aged other thing and obviously the age of the people living in those units are they different kinds of units so our chapter six hundred and sixty seven housing which is our elder disabled are all one bedroom units so we don't have any other options so if you are over the age of sixty or you're disabled according to the social security disability act and you require a two bedroom then you would have to apply as a family so if because you don't have a two bedroom option you're going to see seniors that are over the age of six thousand and eighty dollars make up eighty six dollars and a half percent of our portfolio and then the other thirteen a half percent are young disabled meaning that again they're under the age of sixty and that they qualify as disabled under the social care disability act my understanding of belmont is that belmont is a state has seen thirty and what i mean by that  is that it is not supported with hud funds with the federal dollars the it's supported with state dollars instead it is that understanding correct yes so in my drawing meaningful distinction yeah so  there is state it is public housing and there is federal aid in public housing belmont's portfolio is made up of the conventional housing is all state housing the only federal funding that we get is for the section eight vouchers which is a very small program in comparison to other housing authorities programs so we are primarily we are state funded in the state funding is a little bit different and so well my understanding is that it's a little bit more in fact strike  word little bit that it is quite a bit more difficult to be a state funded housing authority than it is to be a federally funded housing authority it is the funding is the levels are very different  so you know we do the best we can with what we have to maintain our units so that way they're around in order to assist people and continue you know to be there and be available given the limited  in it's not for operations but it does help the agency now you talk about working with the town and having access to c p a for its community preservation act funds the housing is a little unique in that it's a state agency and not a an agency of the municipal government do i have that correct yeah we're like a  governmental agency we are our own independent body compared we're not so you're not even really a state agency we are and that where we are a government agency we're tax exempt but our funding comes from multiple sources so that's what they call move forward with but it is the housing authority is different from the school department or the rec department in that you're not part of the infrastructure or have county government has town government  income eligible to to be a resident of a public housing authority yeah so the income eligibility is higher than what many people probably assume i think that there's a misnomer that we have a lot of residents that are strictly on welfare we have a lot of working families and a lot of elders that may have some kind of asset and the way that the calculation is calculated is we look at what is income and then on the senior development they pay thirty percent of their kind of low income and on the family side if a twenty seven percent because they also pay additionally such as gas intellect if i can go back for a minute i think i think i just heard you say that the perception that housing authority residents are necessarily very low income or welfare  recipients is in encrypt observation yes i mean we we have some people that receive benefits but we also have a lot that are working especially in the family developments you know you have single moms or even you know two parent families who are working forty hours plus maybe sometimes two jobs just to try to support their family and it still can be tight when you're paying seven percent of your income towards rent so you know the rents are still thirty percent of your your rent yes you know your income that you take and so you know sometimes they do have trouble paying their rent and you know we're able to connect them with other resources in the unities that may be able to assist or you know referral to the belmont food bank or things like that so we do our best to support the residents in whichever ways we can but we don't have a social worker and staff so it really we're thankful that we do have others in the community that we can reach out to and  make sure that our residents are good and i haven't thought of the connection between the council on aging and the housing authority can you give us an example of how you collaborate with the  whether it's somebody that might need just additional assistance with you know laundry or to live in public housing you have to be able to live independently or to do so with services and we can't provide those services but you know n units that i can't imagine anybody else what's it like to to be a landlord or do you feel like your landlord yeah i mean it's a huge responsibility i take it very seriously you know  we're doing we're providing a basic miss that city and by providing that basic necessity either we're allowing seniors to not have to choose between rent and food and medicine or it's a family that you know the child doesn't have to worry about sleeping in a car or you know it's a family where you have somebody that had a dad that came in as an emergency applicant was house and the father ends up passing away traumatic enough as it is but now the family doesn't have to worry about where they're going to sleep at night they the day to day administrator i mean it's easy to talk about the easy i don't know if that's right it's interesting to to talk and think about the need for fordable housing be you really have to deal with the day to day aspects of maintaining the quality of the housing i assume that if somebody is sink back sept you get a phone call if  so you really take care of these hundreds of units of housing to make sure that they're staying quality housing so we're tasked with the maintaining the housing so that it's preserved so that as collaboratively as you can with the residents in order to make sure that they can preserve their tendencies and that they're following the lease and everyone will to live in a safe secure sanitary manner and well of course you have  opinions you have an opinion you care to share about why it's important to provide affordable housing and let me tell you things that question me and the question there is i used to be the chair of the bel trust which is charged with developing affordable housing in belmont so i have strong political beliefs or strong principles on this but why why is it important to have  affordable housing i can i mean housing is a basic necessity you have residents that grew up and lived in belmont their entire lives who for one reason or another may not be able to continue to live here because they can't afford it you have seniors who you know need to retire or need suitable housing and they can't do it because of medical issues or you have families who need that support and that study environment in order to focus on other things in life and really you know it's a receive benefits back in your opinion and i'm not talking about dollars but absolutely i mean there are members of the community just like anybody everybody else they have something to offer they you know they do provide great things and  that the hardest part about public housing is that there's that misconception that there's a lot of bad within public housing and it's that you don't really get to hear the good stories because we preserve the privacy in their you know what not for individuals that have those success stories or that have done really well you know they don't make it into the paper but the bad stuff can and in that's you know that's the taste that sometimes people get and it's not we have so many great residents that do lots of great things that you know work hard have great jobs and they just for one reason or another can't support a family even on that you know the wages and then just in boston in general in massachusetts in general rents are so high and even if you're working a full time job  and if you're a single parent you can only work so many hours or you need child support child care and it allows people to to live it allows them to have a life to raise their families to you know become and i think community absolutely  is there in your opinion in a mission i don't know if mission is the right word let's step away from belmont in particular here but for public housing in general is that the mission to let people not worry about where they're going to lay their head and to become a part of the community and to become a part of the fabric of the community  i putting words in your mouth you know you're not it is it's you know to provide safe sanitary housing for residents so that for anybody so that way they can be members of the community so that way they can have that basic necessit you know thirty percent of income when you're not making a lot of money is still a lot of money to you it's still choosing between you know some of the extras and you know what not but it is and it's a great it's a great feeling to know that you're making it you're making an impact and if you can make an impact and one child's life or one senior who you know has worked really hard their entire lives and you know needs to retire due to medical it makes such a difference that's the that's the feeling that you don't get when you're in private practice you know what i mean it's really we do great things and i don't see this as a job i see it as a passion and that it's a wonderful feeling when you know even if it's not you know especially when it's not shared with the whole community when you know that you've made that should i maybe it's a lot maybe it's not necessarily a good thing well i mean i think you know again i think that anybody at any time could find themselves in the position where they need the assistance of public housing whether it's a divorce a death a health issue whether it's your health issue a child health issue you know there's a lot of things that can happen that can that can change your position quite quickly that being said also it's great to be able to help those who are a little less fortunate those who needs to make sure that you know everybody has that safe spot in the community and you know their housing production plan that was conducted by the housing trust shows that there's a significant need  world war two yes it was built in the late so do you have do you find yourself having physical challenges now from the perspective of the tenants from the perspective of the units themselves so again because our state and our funding is not as significant as if we were funded by hyde but recently we have been able to use community preservation funds to a larger rewiring project of all the electric upgrade church which was very helpful because that helps preserve the housing it's helping to preserve and make sure that building does not have an electrical fire or something like that  funds has assisted us or give us funds to look at potentially redeveloping sherman gardens that is eighty unit senior elderly disabled building it is it's yes and that's those don't go together well you know and so where what we're doing is we are in the process of obtaining a consultant to assist us in doing the very beginning searches the very beginning of a redevelopment which is looking at your title search your environmental review making sure that it's even possible to have some type of project on that land going forward so that it's very basic but that's where we are with the sherman gardens redevelopment  looking at sherman gardens redevelopment and then from there you know over at our other development we also only have three hundred and eighty dollars excessively units in our entire portfolio for wheelchairs and then out of the three buildings we have only those st floors the main floors are st floor accessible so if someone does need stairs we are limited because we have a lot of senior older disabled units that require stairs some more serious than others but still stairs so you're are you doing better than making do or are you thriving would you say i or you were doing what we're doing the best we can with what we have to preserve our our  units we really especially in the family units you're seeing the age you know and we're seeing that also in the in both development so in our entire portfolio you know the question but on the one hand i hear the passion in your voice when you talk about what you do on the other hand i hear you talking about the challenges which are real challenges real world challenges director as a housing authority we're on call twenty four seventh's so it's not a ninety five job by any means but it's one that i'm very passionate about one that i get a lot of the film it from knowing that you're making an impact makes you want to work harder  and you keep you know doing what you can to really better the development physical property as well as the experience for the rights so it's it is a challenge but you know you rise up to meet it and it feels good when you when you've overcome and then and i really love what we do and you know with the limited staff and the limited funding you know i think we're absolutely well we have been talking with jackie martin today and i think executive director and i appreciate your taking time out of what i can only imagine is an extraordinary schedule to come over here to the studios to talk with us today and i appreciate the invader really if enjoyed our conversation  you've been listening to community conversations you can stream community conversations online at the b m c podcast network by going to belmont media dot org and you can also find community conversations at the b m c podcast network through i tunes thank you for tuning in i'm your community conversations host roger colton i will talk with you again next week