Holbrook Housing Authority’s Annual 2025 Plan is Available for Public Comment
The Holbrook Housing Authority invites all tenants and the public to a review of the Authority's Proposed Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2025. The Annual Plan is intended to provide insight into the Authority’s operations and plans for the coming fiscal year as they affect the Authority’s state-aided public housing.
The Proposed Annual Plan is comprised of the following elements:
- Proposed Capital Improvement Plan (5-year)
- Proposed Maintenance and Repair Plan
- Current Operating Budget
- Responses to the Performance Management Review (PMR) findings
- List of housing authority policies
- List of waivers from governing regulations of the Department of Housing and
Community Development (DHCD) - Other elements
Hearing time and date: 5:30 PM on 03/28/2024
Hearing location: One Holbrook Court, Community Building, Holbrook, MA 02343
Residents and the general public are invited to review the Annual Plan before the hearing and may submit public comments as noted below. The Authority shall consider the concerns of any Local Tenants’ Organization (LTO) or Resident Advisory Board (RAB) regarding needs and priorities and incorporate some or all such needs and priorities in the draft plan if deemed by the Authority to be consistent with sound management. Substantive comments will be summarized and included in the Annual Plan when it is submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Copies of the Annual Plan are available at the Authority’s office or may be reviewed below:
Holbrook’s New Smoking Policy
The Holbrook Housing Authority last month met with residents to discuss the adoption of a new smoking policy for the Authority. James Marathas, Executive Director for Quincy Housing Authority and managed agencies, along with Colleen Whalen, Assistant Director of Managed Agencies, and Andrew Rocha, Assistant Executive Director for Quincy Housing Authority were also in attendance.
A new smoking policy was long overdue for the Authority, which had a zero tolerance for smoking anywhere on the property. Marathas indicated that it was an unreasonable expectation for residents who smoke to leave the property in order to do so. This highly restrictive policy has over time also contributed to residents smoking in their units as a result. Smoking in units is a nuisance, and health concern for neighbors at the property. Furthermore, smoking in units contributes to significant damage over time, which leads to costly unit refurbishing.
The new policy, which allows for smoking 25 feet from the building was adopted by the Board of Commissioners and provides for a more equitable solution to smoking at the property for smokers and non-smokers.
