SAUGUS — The Saugus Housing Authority approved budgetary components for 2022-2023 and a new accommodation policy during a meeting on Tuesday night.
Included in the budget are a 13 percent increase in the operating receipts, an approximately 1.5 percent increase in administration non-utility, and an approximately 8.4 percent increase for general non-utility expenditures.
On the maintenance side, Housing Authority Executive Director Laura Glynn said the gas total is increasing about 300 percent, electric about 18 percent, and water and sewer about 9 percent.
“We do know they are going to increase,” said Housing Authority Chair Bill Stewart. “We don’t know exactly how much, but it should be fairly close.”
The Housing Authority’s Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Richard Conlon, said the Housing Authority presented estimated numbers during the meeting. When the state does subsidy calculations, it will use the actual utility cost to come up with the numbers.
“They use the actual number and give you whatever that is. If it’s up 80 percent, then they’ll give you 80 percent,” Conlon said. “If they’re running out of subsidy money, then they go back to the legislature … to pay for it.”
The Housing Authority also voted in favor of a new reasonable accommodation policy that will require residents to submit a doctor’s note alongside an accommodation request to move units.
“I need documentation from the doctor saying ‘transferring you from one unit to another is not changing your housing situation, but you’ll have a better life,'” Glynn explained.
Residents will not be able to switch from one unit to another without a valid reason. With a letter from a doctor, they will get priority on the next available unit that matches their request.
“If you have a reasonable accommodation, then we would transfer somebody. But if somebody just wants to get a new unit, then we wouldn’t,” said Glynn.
Glynn said she doesn’t consider “longevity” a reasonable accommodation, because every time the Housing Authority moves a resident to a new unit, it costs the Housing Authority around $5,000 in updates including repainting and re-carpeting.
Some examples of reasonable accommodations are mobility issues, needing to be closer to the elevator, or needing a brighter room to help treat depression.
Glynn said some of the most difficult accommodation requests are people requesting to move because someone near them smokes.
“We’re moving somebody because someone is doing something they’re not supposed to be doing in the building,” Glynn said. “We can’t not house smokers.”
It is prohibited to smoke on Housing Authority grounds. If residents are caught smoking, they must first meet with Glynn. The second offense results in a $100 fine and the third in a $250 fine.
“I believe that people do need reasonable accommodations,” Glynn said.
