reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 121b § 25 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 25 - Housing Programs; Statement of Emergency

Section 25. It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth, and that there is not in the commonwealth, within a reasonable distance of the principal centers of employment, an adequate supply of low-rent housing for families of low income; that in certain portions of the commonwealth decent, safe and sanitary housing cannot be provided for families of low income in rural areas at a cost which would warrant private enterprise in the locality or in the same general area to provide an adequate supply thereof; that this situation tends to cause an increase and spread of disease and crime and constitutes a menace to the health, safety, morals, welfare and comfort of the inhabitants of the commonwealth and is detrimental to property values therein; that this situation cannot readily be remedied by the ordinary operations of private enterprise; that a public exigency exists which makes the clearance of substandard or decadent areas and the provision of housing for persons of low income a public necessity; that the clearance of substandard and decadent areas and the provision of housing for persons of low income, or either, constitute a public use for which private property may be acquired by eminent domain and public funds raised by taxation may be expended; and the enactment of sections one to forty-four of this chapter is declared to be a public necessity. Moreover, it is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas can often be eliminated only by the development of housing of persons of varied economic means in the same project and neighborhood and that any benefit to tenants other than low or moderate income tenants provided under this chapter will be at most incidental to, and no greater than is necessary for, achieving proper housing in appropriate surroundings for low income persons and families.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 26d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 26d - Names and Contact Information of All Members and Senior Staff to Be Posted on Wall of Community Center and on Website

Section 26D. Housing authorities shall post on the wall of the community center for each of its developments the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other means of contact for all members and senior staff. Housing authorities shall maintain a website that shall display the same information.  The department shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 28a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 28a - Annual Plan; Availability to Public for Review and Comment

Section 28A. (a) Each housing authority shall submit to the department an annual plan. The annual plan shall state the housing authority's goals and objectives to meet or improve upon the department's performance based review and assessment standards under section 26B. The annual plan shall further include the housing authority's capital improvement, maintenance and repair plans for the following year and address deficiencies in meeting applicable performance standards.  (b) The housing authority shall make the annual plan available for public review and comment through an annual public hearing. Not later than 45 days before the date of a public hearing, the housing authority shall publish a notice informing the public of the agenda items which shall be covered at the hearing, including, but not limited to, the housing authority's: (i) proposed operating budget; (ii) proposed capital plan; and (iii) specific plan to meet or improve upon the performance based review and the assessment standards under section 26B.  (c) The department shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 30 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 30 - Contract With Federal Government; Acquiring Federally Owned Project

Section 30. A housing authority, with the written approval of the department and of the mayor of the city or selectmen of the town in which the project is situated, may enter into a contract with the federal government for purchasing or leasing a clearance or housing project owned or controlled by the federal government. If such a project has been so leased by a housing authority and such authority has by vote declared that the buildings of the project have been constructed in a manner that will afford necessary safety, sanitation and protection in other respects to the public, no changes shall be required by any agent of the commonwealth or of the city or town in the manner of construction, or the buildings, the fixtures or appurtenances thereto or the use for which the project was designed.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32a - Parking Areas; Rules and Regulations; Towing

Section 32A. A housing authority may make reasonable rules and regulations for the use of parking areas under its control and may make reasonable charges for the use of such areas; provided, however, no housing authority shall charge its tenants for the use of any parking space within an area under its control. Any such authority shall have the power to tow any abandoned or unregistered vehicle which is parked in any area under their control. At least one attested copy of said rules and regulations shall be posted at each facility and any violation thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32b - Definitions

Section 32B. As used in sections thirty-two B to thirty-two F, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the content otherwise requires:  ''Landlord'', the owner or managing agent of a public housing development or a subsidized housing development.  ''Public housing development'', such developments for housing owned and operated by a housing authority pursuant to this chapter.  ''Subsidized housing development'', such multi-family developments for housing as: (a) receive the benefit of subsidy in the form of project-based assistance under the section 8 housing assistance program for the disposition of projects owned by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; or (b) are owned or held by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development as mortgagee-in-possession.  ''Tenant household'', an individual, family unit, or other group living in a public housing development or a subsidized housing development, as reported to the landlord of the development at initial occupancy or thereafter.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32c - Unlawful Conduct by Tenant, Members or Non-Members of Tenant Household; Civil Action by Landlord for Injunctive or Other Equitable Relief

Section 32C. Whenever a person who is not a member of a tenant household has, on or near a public housing development or a subsidized housing development: (a) caused serious physical harm to a member of a tenant household or employee of the landlord or any other person lawfully on the premises of the housing authority; (b) intentionally, willfully, and repeatedly destroyed, vandalized, or stolen property of a member of a tenant household or of the landlord or any other person lawfully on the premises of the housing authority; (c) intentionally and willfully destroyed, vandalized, or stolen property of a member of a tenant household or of the landlord or any other person lawfully on the premises of the housing authority and attempted to seriously physically harm a member of a tenant household or employee of the landlord or any other person lawfully on the premises of the housing authority; (d) possessed or carried a weapon in violation of section 10 of chapter 269 or possessed or used an explosive or infernal machine, as such as defined in section 102A of chapter 266 with the exception of fire-crackers or violated any other provision of section 101, 102, 102A or 102B of said chapter 266; (e) unlawfully sold or possessed with intent to distribute a controlled substance as established as Class A, B, C, or D in section 31 of chapter 94C; or (f) committed or repeatedly threatened to commit a battery upon a person or damaged or repeatedly threatened to commit damage to the property of another for the purpose of intimidation because of the person's race, color, religion, or national origin or on account of the person's participation in an eviction proceeding; the landlord of such premises may bring a civil action for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief in order to prohibit the person from entering or remaining in or upon the public or subsidized housing development, unless there is cause to believe that such unlawful conduct is unlikely to continue or to pose a serious threat to the health or safety of the development, the tenant households at such development, or the employees of the landlord. Whenever a tenant or member of a tenant's household residing in a public or subsidized housing development has caused or threatened to cause harm to another tenant, an employee of the landlord, or any other person who is known or believed to be a witness in an eviction against the tenant, the landlord may bring a civil action for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the witness from harm threatened by the tenant or member of the tenant household.  Nothing in this section shall be read to limit the civil and criminal remedies otherwise available under section thirty-nine of chapter two hundred and sixty-five or section one hundred and twenty-seven B of chapter two hundred and sixty-six.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32d - Actions by Tenants or Tenants' Organizations

Section 32D. A tenant or member of a tenant household in a public or subsidized housing development whose health or safety has been seriously threatened as described in section thirty-two C, and where there is reasonable cause to believe that such unlawful conduct will continue to pose a serious threat to his health and safety may institute and prosecute in his own name and on his own behalf or on behalf of other willing household members a civil action requiring the landlord of the public or subsidized housing development to seek injunctive and other appropriate relief as provided in section thirty-two C, provided that the landlord of the public or subsidized housing development has actual or constructive notice of said unlawful conduct. Such civil action may also be pursued by a tenants organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, on behalf of its members, and without any requirement that such organization be represented by counsel in order to pursue such action. This paragraph shall not be construed so as to limit relief otherwise available under chapter two hundred and nine A. Nothing in this section shall be read to limit the civil and criminal remedies otherwise available under section thirty-nine of chapter two hundred and sixty-five or section one hundred and twenty-seven B of chapter two hundred and sixty-six. This paragraph does not limit any existing nor create any new civil or criminal liability.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32e - Jurisdiction Over Civil Actions; Appellate Review

Section 32E. Civil actions under section thirty-two C or thirty-two D shall be instituted in the housing or superior court departments having jurisdiction where the residential premises are located. Orders and judgments entered in such actions shall be subject to appellate review as if the interlocutory order or judgment was entered in the superior court department.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 32g (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 32g - Temporary Absences From Commonwealth; Presumption of Abandonment of Residency and Eligibility for Assistance

Section 32G. A temporary absence from the commonwealth which exceeds 30 calendar days or 90 days in aggregate over the course of a calendar year shall create a rebuttable presumption that Massachusetts residency has been abandoned by a recipient of state or municipally-funded or subsidized housing and that the recipient is no longer eligible for such assistance pursuant to this chapter. The department shall promulgate regulations in accordance with this section, including, but not limited to, the process by which the 90 days shall be monitored.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 33 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 33 - Equivalent Elimination of Substandard Dwelling Units

Section 33. No project for low-rent housing involving the construction of new dwellings shall be undertaken by a housing authority unless the city or town has entered into an agreement with the housing authority providing that, subsequent to the initiation of the project and within five years after the completion thereof, there has been or will be elimination by demolition, condemnation, effective closing or compulsory repair or improvement of unsafe or unsanitary dwelling units situated in the locality or metropolitan area substantially equal in number to the number of newly constructed dwelling units provided by such project; provided, that where more than one family is living in an unsafe or unsanitary dwelling unit, the elimination of such unit shall count as the elimination of units equal to the number of families accommodated therein; and provided, further, that such elimination may, in the discretion of the department be deferred in any locality or metropolitan area where there is an acute shortage of decent, safe or sanitary housing available to families of low income; and provided, further, that this requirement shall not apply in the case of any low-rent housing project located in a rural nonfarm area, or to any low-rent housing project undertaken under the provisions of section thirty-four.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 35 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 35 - Contracts for Supplementary State Financial Assistance

Section 35. The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for supplementary state financial assistance in the form of grants and guarantees as provided in and subject to the limitations of sections thirty-four and thirty-four B with respect to that portion of the development cost of a federally assisted housing project or projects which is not financed by such federal assistance.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 36 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 36 - Receipt of Loans and Grants From Federal Sources or From Other Sources

Section 36. The commonwealth shall have power to receive loans and grants from the federal government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from any other source, public or private, and to use any such loan or grant or part thereof for any purpose of this chapter, or to act as agent of, or to cooperate in any way with, the federal government or any agency or instrumentality thereof on any project authorized by this chapter.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 38 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 38 - Housing for the Elderly and the Handicapped; Declaration of Policy

Section 38. It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth and that there is not, in certain parts of the commonwealth, an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary housing for elderly persons of low income, available for rents which such persons can afford to pay, and the rents which such persons can afford to pay would not warrant private enterprise in providing housing for such persons; that this situation tends to cause an increase and spread of communicable and chronic diseases, that the lack of properly constructed dwelling units designed specifically to meet the needs of elderly persons aggravates those diseases peculiar to the elderly thereby crowding the hospitals in the commonwealth with elderly persons under conditions of idleness that inevitably invite further senility; that this situation constitutes a menace to the health, safety, welfare and comfort of the inhabitants of the commonwealth and is detrimental to property values in the localities in which it exists; that this situation cannot readily be remedied by private enterprise; and that a public exigency exists which makes the provision of housing for elderly persons of low income and the clearance of decadent or substandard areas a public necessity; that the provision of housing for elderly persons of low income for the purpose of reducing the cost to the commonwealth of their care by promoting their health and welfare, thereby prolonging their productivity in the interest of the state and nation, and the clearance of decadent or substandard areas, or either, constitutes and hereby is declared to be a public use for which private property may be taken by eminent domain and public funds raised by taxation may be expended.  It is hereby further declared that there is not, in certain parts of the commonwealth, an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary housing for handicapped persons of low income available for rents which such persons can afford to pay, and the rents which such persons can afford to pay would not warrant private enterprise in providing housing for such persons; that this situation often results in the institutionalization of such persons at substantial cost to the commonwealth or their resort to decadent or substandard housing with the result that such decadent or substandard housing cannot be eliminated; that this situation aggravates the hardship of handicapped persons and prevents their living productive lives and that the provision of housing for handicapped persons of low income is in the interest of the commonwealth and hereby is declared to be a public use for which private property may be taken by eminent domain and public funds may be expended.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 38a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 38a - Bureau of Housing for the Handicapped; Director; Functions

Section 38A. There shall be within the department a bureau of housing for the handicapped, in the division of community development. The bureau shall consist of the director, and other such persons as shall be necessary to conduct the work of the bureau. The director shall be selected by the commissioner after consultation with representative consumer groups, with preference given to a qualified handicapped person, or to a person who has expertise in the area of the housing needs of the handicapped.  The functions of the bureau shall include but not be limited to the following activities: to coordinate within the department the several program elements relative to housing and services for handicapped persons of low income; to assist local housing authorities in planning, developing and implementing appropriate housing, management and service programs for handicapped persons of low income; to issue guidelines and directives and to promulgate rules and regulations relative to adequately housing the handicapped; to promulgate regulations and guidelines relative to contracts entered into for the provisions of services to residents of housing for handicapped persons, including the management and maintenance of the premises; to approve such contracts; to serve as a focus in developing local and statewide planning to assist handicapped persons obtain the housing and services that will increase their ability to live independently; to seek, accept and otherwise take full advantage of all federal and state aid available to the department to assist in developing housing and related services for handicapped persons; to assist other agencies to take full advantage of all federal, state and local assistance for housing, rehabilitation, and the provision of services to assist handicapped persons to live with greater independence; and to work in close cooperation with consumers, including representatives from the various organizations of physically handicapped, deaf or blind, and advocates for persons with mental retardation, emotional deficiencies, and for other socially disadvantaged and handicapped persons, and also all federal, state and local organizations and agencies concerned with developing rational planning and effective implementation of housing and related services for handicapped persons of low income and to increase their independence, productivity and self-satisfaction.
MA Gen L ch 121b § 38b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 121b - Housing and Urban Renewal|Section 38b - Housing for the Elderly and the Handicapped; Service Coordinator Program

Section 38B. The department is authorized to establish a program to provide service coordinators to assist residents in housing developed pursuant to sections thirty-nine and forty. The purpose of such program shall be to assist tenants living in such housing to meet tenancy requirements in order to maintain and enhance the quality of life in such housing. Service coordinators shall be assigned to said housing as determined necessary by the department. The department shall consult with the executive office of health and human services, the executive office of elder affairs, housing authorities, the Massachusetts rehabilitation commission, and the office on disability in developing the guidelines of said service coordinator program and in evaluating said program.