What Happens at the Hearing?

1. When is a public housing grievance hearing held?
2. Who hears public housing grievances?
3. What happens at a public housing grievance hearing?
4. What happens if I do not show up at the public housing grievance hearing?

When is a public housing grievance hearing held?

Once the hearing panel or officer receives your grievance, the panel or officer must schedule a date for your hearing and then give you and the housing authority staff written notice of the time and place of the hearing. Either side may postpone a hearing, by agreement of both sides or for what is called good cause, such as illness, unavoidable absence of a party or witness, or failure to allow you to review documents a sufficient amount of time before the hearing.¹

State public housing

In eviction cases in state public housing, a grievance hearing must be scheduled within 14 days. In addition, the hearing must be scheduled at least 15 days prior to the termination date on your notice. You must be given notice of not less than 7 days of the time and place for the hearing. A hearing of a grievance on other issues should be scheduled as soon as reasonably convenient following receipt of the grievance.²

Federal public housing

Federal public housing regulations require that the hearing be scheduled promptly and at a location reasonably convenient to both the housing authority and the tenant. Notice of the hearing must, in addition to stating the time and place of the grievance hearing, also state what procedures will govern the hearing.³ Under federal rules, a housing authority may establish what is called an expedited or quick grievance procedure concerning evictions that involve criminal or drug-related activity.⁴

Who hears public housing grievances?

An impartial hearing officer or hearing panel will hear your grievance and provide a decision. Impartial means that the hearing officer cannot be a person (or the subordinate of that person) who held your informal settlement conference or who was involved in the issue being grieved in any way.

A hearing officer or member of a hearing panel cannot have any direct personal or financial interest in the outcome of the dispute. Nor can an officer or panel member be related by blood or marriage to any party or any person who is the source of evidence (for example, a witness for the housing authority). If you feel that a hearing officer or panel member will not be able to act impartially in deciding your case, you can ask that the person not hear the case and that there be a substitute hearing officer or panel member.

The Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants provides trainings for hearing officers and panel members about how to handle grievances. If the housing authority is setting up a hearing panel or recruiting new panel members at your housing authority, you may want to suggest to the housing authority that they contact the Mass. Union for training assistance. They can be reached at 617-825-9750.

What happens at a public housing grievance hearing?

The hearing must be conducted in a fair manner. At the hearing, the hearing officer or panel will ask both you and the housing authority to tell your side of the story. It is not uncommon for a hearing officer or panel to ask a tenant to go first. At the hearing, both you and the housing authority have the right to:

• tell your side of the story,
• question anyone who testifies, and
• question the validity or accuracy of any evidence.

Right to a person of your choice at the hearing

You and the housing authority have the right to have a lawyer, advocate, or any other person of your choosing with you during the grievance hearing and throughout all stages of the grievance process. In fact, you can be accompanied by up to three people of your choosing at all stages of the grievance process.

Public or private hearing

As a state or federal public housing tenant, you have a right to request that a hearing be open to the public.⁵ Housing authorities cannot request that a hearing be public. If you have supporters and want them to come to the hearing, or this is a high-visibility case and you want the news media present, having a public hearing may be helpful to you. On the other hand, there can be private information that would come out at a hearing and you might not want it to be public.

If you request that a hearing be open to the public, this will occur unless the hearing officer or panel orders otherwise.⁶ If you don't make such a request, the hearing is held in private.

Important:

A hearing officer or panel may exclude any person who does not conduct himself or herself in an orderly fashion. If you or your supporters misbehave at the hearing, the hearing officer or panel may take other measures to deal with the misbehavior- including dismissing the grievance.⁷

Evidence

At the hearing, you have a right to submit written evidence such as a lease, or other documents to support your position.⁸ This is very important, because a hearing officer or panel cannot consider evidence unless either you or the housing authority present it at the time of the hearing. The only time that evidence can be submitted after a hearing is if a hearing officer or panel requests it. Also, it is important to give hearing officers or panels copies of relevant laws, policies, and rules so that they can take these into consideration when making a decision.

Note:

If the housing authority is asked to submit additional information, you must be given an opportunity to respond to it (and vice versa).

Witnesses

In addition to presenting evidence at the hearing, you have the right to bring people who have personal or direct knowledge about the problem to testify at the hearing. If the housing authority brings witnesses to testify, you also have a right to ask those people questions about what they are saying. A hearing officer or panel may also question any witnesses.

If the housing authority does not have witnesses who personally know what went on, they may not be able to win the grievance. For example, if the housing authority is relying only on the testimony of the manager who received reports of your suspected misconduct from other people, but the people who reported the conduct do not testify, you can ask the manager whether she has any personal knowledge of the misconduct. If the manager says no, you can ask the hearing officer or panel to rule against the housing authority because the manager does not have any direct personal knowledge of your misconduct and because you have not been given the opportunity to question the people who reported the conduct.

Record of the hearing

The housing authority must keep some kind of record of what happens at a grievance hearing.

What happens if I do not show up at the public housing grievance hearing?

State public housing

There are no provisions under state law about what happens if a tenant or housing authority does not show up for a hearing. However, many housing authorities follow the federal regulations outlined below.

Federal public housing

 

Under federal regulations, if you do not show up at the grievance hearing and you do not request a postponement (or what is called a continuance), the hearing officer or panel may:

 

• postpone the hearing for 5 working days or
• decide that you have given up (waived) your right to a hearing.

The same is true if the housing authority does not show up at the grievance hearing.

If the hearing officer or panel must decide how to proceed due to the failure of either party to show up, they should send written notice to both parties of the action taken. If a hearing officer or panel decides to deny your right to a hearing, you can still challenge a housing authority's actions in court.¹³