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Your Right to a Grievance

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Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

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Diciembre 2022

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This section explains the grievance process and how it came to be a protected right.

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What is a grievance procedure in public housing?

A grievance procedure is a process to resolve disputes between residents in public housing and a housing authority.¹ It is a way to try and work out problems without having to go to court. As a tenant, you can use the grievance procedure in two different ways:

To oppose some action that a housing authority wants to take against you (For example: Housing authority refuses to let you add someone to your lease)
To hold your housing authority staff and board accountable for the way they have acted or not acted (For example: Housing authority does not respond to your request to make repairs)

Important:

It is illegal for a housing authority to try and evict or harass you for filing a grievance or testifying at a grievance hearing.² The grievance procedure is there to resolve problems. Don’t let the housing authority try to scare you away from using the grievance procedure.

Where did the idea of a grievance procedure come from?

The public housing grievance process grew out of the efforts in the late 1960s to stop arbitrary evictions and a famous lawsuit in 1970 that established due process requirements for people receiving welfare.³ In 1971, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued an official memorandum that formed the basis of public housing grievance procedures. Regulations followed. Similar laws were adopted for state public housing in the 1970s. Then in 1983 Congress for the first time passed legislation requiring housing authorities to provide grievance procedures for federal public housing.

development

How do I find out what the grievance process is in my development?

Housing authorities must have written grievance procedures. For state public housing, housing authorities must post the grievance procedure in their central office and on their website or webpage.⁴ For federal public housing, housing authorities must have grievance procedures available at their main office and should have them on their websites.⁵

Ask your housing authority for a copy of your grievance procedure. In some cases, your rights under your grievance procedure may also be spelled out in your lease (including as an attachment to the lease). While grievance procedures for tenants in Massachusetts state and federal public housing are similar, they are not identical.⁶ In order to figure out what your rights are, you need to know whether you are a state or federal public housing tenant.

Where there are differences between the state and federal grievance procedures, these differences are spelled out in the answers that follow.

If you are in a “mixed finance” building, read here. A “mixed finance” development is one that was state or federal public housing in the past but has been renovated or reconstructed and now has other funding sources. A “mixed finance” development may be owned by an affiliate of the housing authority or a different entity.

When am I supposed to be notified about my grievance rights?

If a housing authority takes some action against you, in most cases, you have a right to a grievance hearing and the housing authority must notify you about this right. This notice must be in writing, and it must include the deadline by which you must file a grievance.⁷

For example, your housing authority must give you notice that you have a right to
file a grievance if the housing authority is:

Terminating your lease.
Changing your rent.
Requiring you to transfer.
Denying your request for a transfer.
Denying your request to add someone to the lease.⁸
Denying a request for a reasonable accommodation for a disability.⁹
Denying a claim to be exempt from the community service requirement.

Make sure that you file a grievance by the deadline on the notice and in the way described in the notice. Otherwise, you may lose your right to a grievance.¹⁰ If you did not get a notice that you have a right to a grievance hearing and you should have, the housing authority will probably have to start the whole process over again. For example: If the housing authority is going to court to evict you because you refused to transfer to another apartment, but you never received a written notice telling you that you have a right to a grievance hearing, tell the court. Then ask the court to dismiss the case and to tell the housing authority to start the process over by informing you in writing of your right to a grievance hearing.

Can the housing authority take other actions against me for filing a grievance?

If you have filed a request for a grievance hearing or you are appealing a grievance decision, a housing authority may not take any other action against you until a final decision has been reached. This means that the housing authority cannot bring you to court to evict you or take other action on the subject of the grievance (such as a transfer) until the grievance process is over.¹²

Expandir todo

What is a grievance procedure in public housing?

A grievance procedure is a process to resolve disputes between residents in public housing and a housing authority.¹ It is a way to try and work out problems without having to go to court. As a tenant, you can use the grievance procedure in two different ways:

To oppose some action that a housing authority wants to take against you (For example: Housing authority refuses to let you add someone to your lease)
To hold your housing authority staff and board accountable for the way they have acted or not acted (For example: Housing authority does not respond to your request to make repairs)

Important:

It is illegal for a housing authority to try and evict or harass you for filing a grievance or testifying at a grievance hearing.² The grievance procedure is there to resolve problems. Don’t let the housing authority try to scare you away from using the grievance procedure.

Where did the idea of a grievance procedure come from?

The public housing grievance process grew out of the efforts in the late 1960s to stop arbitrary evictions and a famous lawsuit in 1970 that established due process requirements for people receiving welfare.³ In 1971, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued an official memorandum that formed the basis of public housing grievance procedures. Regulations followed. Similar laws were adopted for state public housing in the 1970s. Then in 1983 Congress for the first time passed legislation requiring housing authorities to provide grievance procedures for federal public housing.

How do I find out what the grievance process is in my development?

Housing authorities must have written grievance procedures. For state public housing, housing authorities must post the grievance procedure in their central office and on their website or webpage.⁴ For federal public housing, housing authorities must have grievance procedures available at their main office and should have them on their websites.⁵

Ask your housing authority for a copy of your grievance procedure. In some cases, your rights under your grievance procedure may also be spelled out in your lease (including as an attachment to the lease). While grievance procedures for tenants in Massachusetts state and federal public housing are similar, they are not identical.⁶ In order to figure out what your rights are, you need to know whether you are a state or federal public housing tenant.

Where there are differences between the state and federal grievance procedures, these differences are spelled out in the answers that follow.

If you are in a “mixed finance” building, read here. A “mixed finance” development is one that was state or federal public housing in the past but has been renovated or reconstructed and now has other funding sources. A “mixed finance” development may be owned by an affiliate of the housing authority or a different entity.

When am I supposed to be notified about my grievance rights?

If a housing authority takes some action against you, in most cases, you have a right to a grievance hearing and the housing authority must notify you about this right. This notice must be in writing, and it must include the deadline by which you must file a grievance.⁷

For example, your housing authority must give you notice that you have a right to
file a grievance if the housing authority is:

Terminating your lease.
Changing your rent.
Requiring you to transfer.
Denying your request for a transfer.
Denying your request to add someone to the lease.⁸
Denying a request for a reasonable accommodation for a disability.⁹
Denying a claim to be exempt from the community service requirement.

Make sure that you file a grievance by the deadline on the notice and in the way described in the notice. Otherwise, you may lose your right to a grievance.¹⁰ If you did not get a notice that you have a right to a grievance hearing and you should have, the housing authority will probably have to start the whole process over again. For example: If the housing authority is going to court to evict you because you refused to transfer to another apartment, but you never received a written notice telling you that you have a right to a grievance hearing, tell the court. Then ask the court to dismiss the case and to tell the housing authority to start the process over by informing you in writing of your right to a grievance hearing.

Can I be retaliated against for filing a grievance?

Can the housing authority take other actions against me for filing a grievance?

If you have filed a request for a grievance hearing or you are appealing a grievance decision, a housing authority may not take any other action against you until a final decision has been reached. This means that the housing authority cannot bring you to court to evict you or take other action on the subject of the grievance (such as a transfer) until the grievance process is over.¹²

Endnotes

Notas finales

1:

If the housing authority uses a private management company for day-to-day operations at a development, the actions of the private management company would also be grievable.

2:

Such an action would violate state anti-retaliation laws. See M.G.L. c. 186, § 18, and M.G.L. c. 239, § 2A.

3:

National Housing Law Project, HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (5 th Ed. 2018), Section 10.2.1.2. The lawsuit was Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S 254 (1970).

4:

760 C.M.R. § 4.02(2).

5:

HUD, Public Housing Agency (PHA) Plan Desk Guide (2001); Form HUD-50075-ST, Instructions, A1 (HUD encourages PHAs to post Plans on their websites).

6:

For the state grievance laws, see 760 C.M.R. § 6.08 and M.G.L. c. 121B, § 32. For the federal grievance laws, see 24 C.F.R. § 966, Subpart B, and 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(k). In some instances, DHCD and HUD may permit a housing authority to use a similar grievance procedure for most or all of their sites. In the past, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the state agency that oversees state public housing, said that its grievance regulations applied to both state and federal public housing. See Commissioner of Department of Community Affairs v. Medford Housing Authority, 363 Mass. 826, 298 N.E.2d 862 (1973), and Harborview Residents’ Committee, Inc. v. Quincy Housing Authority, 368 Mass. 425, 332 N.E.2d 891 (1975). This is no longer DHCD’s position. See 760 C.M.R. § 6.02(1) (760 C.M.R. § 6.00 applies to persons residing in state-aided public housing).

7:

For federal public housing, see 24 C.F.R. § 966.4(e)(8). For state public housing, see 760 C.M.R. § 6.06(4)(j).

8:

See Saxton v. Housing Authority of the City of Tacoma, 1 F.3d 881 (9th Cir. 1993) which held that a public housing tenant whose request to add a returning family member to a lease was denied has a right to a grievance hearing pursuant to 24 C.F.R. § 966.50.

9:

See 24 C.F.R. § 8.53(b) (denial of reasonable accommodation subject to grievance rights). Given the often-sensitive medical information and/or lack of expertise of non health care persons, the Cambridge Housing Authority has a separate procedure for denials of reasonable accommodations.

10:

Some grievance procedures may allow a late grievance for good cause shown.

11:

Such an action would violate state anti-retaliation laws. See M.G.L. c. 186, § 18, and M.G.L. c. 239, § 2A.

12:

760 C.M.R. § 6.06(8)(b), and 24 C.F.R. § 966.4(e)(8)(ii)(B), (l)(3)(iv). See also Cambridge Housing Authority v. Wedge, 2000 Mass. App. Div. 235 (2000) (eviction dismissed where grievance procedure not concluded at time housing authority filed action).

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Housing, Apartments & Shelter

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Public & Subsidized Housing

Housing, Apartments & Shelter