SHA Announcements
SHA December Board Meeting & Public Hearing
Access Code: 972-737-485
United States (Toll Free): 1 877 309 2073
United States: +1 (646) 749-3129
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Telephone Notification System
Subscribe to our text message service!!The Somerville Housing Authority uses a telephone notification service to send important messages to residents. This is similar to the method used by the city to send out notices for school closings and snow emergencies. In order to receive these messages, residents must make sure their manager has an up-to-date telephone number. We also encourage residents to subscribe to our text message service by texting shaalert to 80123. Messages are infrequent, but will contain important information to the SHA community.
COVID-19
COVID 19 NOTICE - AVISO-NOTISOur Offices are open to the public as of 6/15/21. Please be prepared to wear a mask at all times on the interior of administrative offices if you are not fully vaccinated. The mail slot will also remain open for your convenience
COVID 19 - LOCAL RESOURCESCity of Somerville Covid-19 Vaccine Information & Resources for Food, Housing, and Financial Assistance
SHA News & Events
SHA SELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Somerville Housing Authority Board of Commissioners recently appointed Diane Cohen as Executive Director. Cohen will replace outgoing director Joe Macaluso who held the position since 1996.
Diane Cohen’s career spans more than 30 years of progressive leadership in administrative roles for housing agencies. She has been at the SHA for the past year but previously served for 22 years as Deputy Director for the Chelsea Housing Authority.
Among previous roles, Cohen worked at Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership and served as Executive Director of the Burlington Housing Authority. She was appointed as a commissioner to the Reading Housing Authority by former Governor Mitt Romney in 2004. Cohen has earned many distinctive service awards from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), currently serving as Vice Chair of Professional Development Committee, and on its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Committee. In addition, she serves as Treasurer for the New England Regional Council National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials and is a member of the Massachusetts NAHRO Insurance Group.
Cohen says she is looking forward to working with the talented staff and wonderful residents of the Authority. ‘Our mission is to deliver safe affordable housing opportunities for our residents while continuing to find ways to bring new permanently affordable units to Somerville residents.”
SHA Board chairman Joe Capuano congratulated Diane and thanked the Board for their deliberative search process. Capuano stated “we appreciate the transparency of the public search process conducted by executive director search firm, D & V Mainsail. We are also grateful for the participation of our residents that aided in the selection.”
Governor Healy’s Secretary of Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Edward M. Augustus, Jr., approved the search process, recruitment and terms of the employment contract between the SHA and Cohen to ensure the state’s guidelines were followed. She assumed her new role effective November 13, 2023.
If you believe you have been discriminated against, call the HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity national toll-free hotline at 1-800-669-9777. Or, you may contact the local HUD field office at Boston Regional Office of FHEO, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Federal Building:
Any individual who believes he or she has been denied employment or housing, discharged, or has suffered discrimination in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment or housing on the basis of race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, ancestry, disability, marital status, veteran status, membership in the armed forces, presence of children, or political beliefs, receipt of public assistance rental assistance or housing subsidy or any other basis prohibited by law, has the right to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).
One Ashburton Place, Room 601
Boston, MA 02108
Telephone: (617) 727-3990
TTY # (617) 727-3990 ext. 588
If you are applying for or receiving assistance under any housing operated by a public housing authority, you may have housing protections under VAWA. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a federal law that, in part, provides housing protections for people applying for or living in units subsidized by the federal government and who have experienced domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, to help keep them safe and reduce their likelihood of experiencing homelessness.
Please see two important VAWA forms: Notice of Occupancy Rights under the Violence Against Women Act VAWA (HUD form 5380) and Certification of Domestic Violence (HUD Form 5382) below for SHA’s Federal Housing Programs: