Senator Richard J. Ross today successfully passed three amendments to the housing authority reform bill that will increase oversight of director salaries and enhance transparency in the application process.
Senator Ross spoke in support of his amendment that will require housing authorities to consult the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database when evaluating applications in order to protect the safety of their tenants. Ross filed the amendment in response to reports that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was listed on the terror watch list, and had been receiving public benefits. Ross was pleased to see the amendment passed.
“This is a commonsense amendment that will increase transparency within the housing authority application process, while protecting the public safety,” said Senator Ross. “We need to give housing authorities the tools they need to protect their residents. This additional information will put them in a better position when making application decisions.”
The Senate passed two additional amendments filed by Senator Ross. One amendment mandates that housing authorities give preference to residents of the town, as well as applicants who have lived in the town for at least twenty-five years, but not at the time of the application. This language was included in a further amendment, filed by Senator Robert Hedlund, to prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving priority status over legal housing authority applicants.
Another successful Ross amendment will require the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to review any housing authority executive director’s contract that is worth more than $100,000 per year.
The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate. A conference committee will now be appointed to resolve differences between the bills that were passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
