Federal report says Boston Housing Authority failed to maintain some public housing units

The Boston Housing Authority failed to consistently maintain its public housing in a clean and safe condition, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In an audit released last week, HUD's Office of the Inspector General examined 36 Boston units in 2023 and found issues in 31 of them. The units were selected randomly in housing developments that had work orders generated because of a recent inspection.

Nearly a third of units had "life-threatening" issues requiring urgent fixes, including missing or malfunctioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, security hazards and blocked exits.

The audit also found that the authority did not consistently perform self-inspections for all units nor correct issues in the allotted time frame. For the 55 units reviewed, the BHA did not perform 37 of the 103 required inspections during the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.

The housing authority, which operates about 10,000 units of public housing, issued a statement Monday saying it has already addressed many of the problems that the audit raised.

“The quality and safety of BHA resident housing is extremely important to both Mayor [Michelle] Wu and to Administrator [Kenzie] Bok," according to a statement from the Boston Housing Authority.

The housing authority said it's taken "significant steps" to address the issues since the time when the HUD inspectors conducted their audit, and pointed out the audit was during the COVID and post-COVID time period.

Around the time HUD was conducting its audit, the Boston agency got a new leader: Bok. The former city councilor was appointed by Wu, and started in August 2023.

Since Bok became administrator, the BHA said it overhauled its maintenance system, "with major positive results in overcoming the work order backlog that built up over the Covid-19 pandemic."

The agency said the total number of work orders agency-wide have dropped from more than 17,000 to less than 3,100 since March 2023. And over the course of the last year, the agency said it transitioned the work order system from paper to digital to ensure emergency issues are tracked and addressed quickly.

"Many of the statistics included in the OIG report reflect the lag of an outdated paper tracking system, not the speed with which emergency issues were actually addressed,” the housing authority said in the statement.

“HUD relies on public housing agencies to ensure that public housing units funded by HUD are decent, safe, and sanitary," said HUD Acting Inspector General Stephen M. Begg in a statement. "We appreciate the steps the Boston Housing Authority is making to improve compliance with HUD health and safety regulations."