SWAMPSCOTT — The Housing Authority introduced its residents to community leaders and local organizations at Duncan Terrace for the authority’s first-ever Meet the Neighborhood event Thursday afternoon.
Residents and their families walked outside 25 Duncan Terrace, stopping to speak to officials from organizations such as Northeast Arc, Swampscott Tenants Association, Seaglass Village, and Greater Lynn Senior Services.
With pizza, refreshments, and balloon animals for the children, folks stuck around, chatting with police officers, Select Board members, firefighters, and local representatives.
“We hear comments from residents that they would feel they don’t fit in the community because of their economic status, and because they live in public housing,” Housing Authority Executive Director Irma Chez said. “The whole point of this initiative is connecting our residents to the rest of the community.”
Housing Authority Board Vice Chair Catherine Esteverena, who greeted residents at the board’s information table, said the event was just as much about introducing town officials to public-housing residents as it was about informing public-housing residents on the resources available to them.
“A lot of people in town don’t even know that we have public housing and don’t know where it is. These kinds of events are great for us, and the town wants to work with us on finding more funding for various things,” Esteverena said.
In the three years since Chez was hired as executive director, Esteverena said the authority secured more than $2 million in grant funding. She said it also took on a number of repair projects, installing new roofs for eight buildings at Cherry Street and Cherry Court, along with replacing electrical panels and porches at Duncan Terrace properties.
Housing Authority Board member Charlie Patsios looked around the neighborhood, pointing to a two-story brick building shadowed by the Shore Village Senior Housing complex behind it. He said he was grateful for the Select Board and Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald’s support for public housing, and was hopeful that the Healey-Driscoll administration’s interest in supporting public housing would pave the way for state support.
“These [Housing Authority] houses don’t even have doorbells,” Patsios said. “My hope is that with the state’s assistance, Swampscott can go from 1960 to 2023.”
Duncan Terrace resident Nancy Sosnowski circled the tables, stopping to talk with residents and community leaders. She said the event brought the community together and showed Swampscott residents what public housing “really is.”
“All of these people worked really hard their entire lives and still work hard. They need a place to live too,” Sosnowski said.
