Regional Admin Visits North Adams Housing Authority Properties
 Housing Authority Executive Director Jennifer Hohn, left, chats with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Administrator Barbara Fields on Thursday. |
Barbara Fields, who manages New England for HUD, took a tour with Operations Manager William Schrade Jr. and Executive Director Jennifer Hohn in her first visit to the Berkshires since she worked with the state's Land Bank in the county 20 years ago.
"It was very exciting to come to town," Fields said.
Fields stressed the importance of maintaining energy-efficient buildings, a challenge that New England properties face more so than most of the nation — especially in the midst of difficult budgeting and, according to a 2011 study, a $26 billion backlog in capitol needs.
"We feel it here," Fields said. "We have high energy costs, old buildings."
Fields was impressed with the new boiler and windows at the Housing Authority apartments on Ashland Street, which both aim to improve energy efficiency.
"We were definitely left with a huge amount of work," Hohn said. "Not a lot was done in the past 30 years or so."
Hohn said one challenge of the new boiler system is pleasing everybody, as some tenants — typically the eldest — want more heat than the 72 degrees allowed.
Schrade said, however, that some new tenants were surprised that not only didn't they have to pay for heat, but they were able to have it at 72 degrees.
Another aspect of the apartments Fields stressed, and that was addressed at the apartments, was disaster resiliency after Schrade showed her the complex's generator. Fields said that after the recent weather events of tropical storms Irene and Sandy, as well as the Western Massachusetts tornado in June 2011, all housing authorities need an emergency plan.
"We understand what it means to seniors to lose power," she said.
Over at the Greylock Valley Apartments, Fields walked around the neighborhood and examined the apartment on Isbell Street that was being renovated after a fire caused by a cigarette and oxygen tank made the residence unlivable in June. She was impressed by the size of the apartment.
"I wouldn't say it's huge, but reasonable," Fields said, noting that most low-income housing units are smaller, with smaller closets. "I think when we build housing, we need to think about how people actually live."
Fields suggested the authority work closer with the arts community to make a creative biking or walking path to the playground and field to increase its use, or paint artwork on the large, brick exhaust stack visible from most of the apartments.
She also encouraged the authority to work in collaboration with Rental Assistance Demonstration programs, like the potential project with Brayton Hill, where the Housing Authority might take over administrative aspects in return for $60,000 to $80,000.
Fields was selected by President Barack Obama to the regional administrator position at HUD in February 2011.
Tags: affordable housing, Housing Authority, HUD,
