SWAMPSCOTT — The Housing Authority board held a special meeting on Monday morning to discuss its response to a member’s resignation via a letter to The Item a week prior.
Naomi Dreeben, a board member of the town’s Housing Authority, announced her resignation last Monday.
Dreeben said she thought that the board was not taking steps to address accessibility issues in the senior housing or making sure that they comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
She pointed out that the Housing Authority passed up on a $50,000 feasibility-study grant that reportedly could have paved the way for $15 million in state building funds to address the issue.
Remaining members of the board and Executive Director of the Housing Authority Irma Chez expressed their disagreement with the letter, as well as regret about Dreeben’s resignation.
“I am sad to see Naomi go,” said Tara Cassidy-Driscoll, member of the board, at Monday’s meeting.
She said that she saw Dreeben’s passion and considered her knowledgeable.
The board has also strongly disagreed with its portrayal as having “a cold disinterest” (a commentary Catherine Esteverena quoted).
“I don’t appreciate people saying that we don’t care about people with disabilities,” said Esteverena, whose son has a disability.
“It was really upsetting to me,” said Cynthia Tennant, who has been on the Housing Authority for three months. “All of us have a commitment to the residents of the Housing Authority.”
Tennant said that she reached out to the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants and received a response that the Swampscott Housing Authority is currently in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for two-story buildings.
Tennant also has been keeping detailed notes on how much Chez received in grants to operate current facilities over the last year and a half. She said that, in total, Chez was able to secure $1.7 million for weatherization of properties; replacement of balconies, fuse panels, refrigerators, blinds, and roofs; and installation of new gas boilers, water heaters, and air pumps, and so on.
“We are a small housing authority but we are doing good things,” said Chez.
Chez explained that the reason why she and the board did not pursue the feasibility-study grant was because she had learned about it two weeks prior to the application deadline. Chez explained that she only works part time and has a part-time assistant. Moreover, to start construction she would need to find new housing for 44 people and would need to supervise relocation and the whole reconfiguration of the building, Chez said.
Chez said that she will pursue this grant the next time it becomes available.
Richard Callahan, chair of the board, said that there is a lack of understanding of their mission in the town, and what they can and cannot do.
“We don’t have an independent source of income,” Callahan said.
He proposed reaching out to the Northeastern Housing Authority to receive a reliable copy of their responsibilities to share with the town.
In reaction to Dreeben’s resignation and letter to the Item, Esteverena came up with a response letter on behalf of the board. Since some of the members of the board saw the letter for the first time at the Monday meeting, they decided to work collectively on the response and vote on a revised letter during the next meeting.
According to Chez, the Swampscott Housing Authority manages three public-housing sites which include 121 units in total. Two of them are for elderly tenants and one for families. This public housing is subsidized by the commonwealth through the Department of Housing and Community Development. People who are in need of public housing can apply from anywhere in the state or in the country, said Chez.
The Housing Authority is independent from the Town of Swampscott. The town could help the Housing Authority with funding by applying for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, but Swampscott has not done so during the year and a half Chez has been working here, she said.
