Evaluation of City of Boston Fair Housing Programs: The Final Report

Authors

Boston Urban Observatory, University of Massachusetts Boston

Document Type

Research Report

Publication Date

11-30-1981

Keywords

housing, Boston, Massachusetts, housing discrimination, housing policy, Boston Fair Housing

Disciplines

Housing Law | Public Administration | Public Policy | Social Policy | State and Local Government Law | Urban Studies

Abstract

The City of Boston's 3-year Pair Housing Plan (1981-83) identifies the following six goals for achieving greater freedom of choice in housing for its minority residents: 1) To improve the delivery of services relative to the enhancement of freedom of choice to all minorities in Boston as they relate to fair housing; 2) To increase enforcement of fair housing laws; 3) To increase public safety and security to assure equal access throughout the City of Boston; 4) To Increase the participation of all minorities and low-and moderate-income people in all City of Boston housing programs; 5) To increase low-cost housing opportunities in Boston city-wide, and; 6) To promote stabilization in integrated neighborhoods in Boston.

Underlying these goals are sub-sets of objectives that further refine the primsiry fair housing missions and are linked to strategies or programs designed as the specific approaches for reaching such objectives. The purposes of the fair housing evaluation project were to determine whether current fair housing program efforts were doing what they were Intended to do and to ascertain the extent to which they were achieving results in accordance with their stated objectives and program standards.

The evaluation indicates that the program efforts of the Mayor's Office of Pair Housing are weighted toward the first goal, an improved fair housing services delivery system. The MOFH role to achieve the remaining five fair housing goals are either catalytic, reporterial (to federal and state agencies) and in a few cases, where deliberately specified, a limited monitoring role. Thus, the MOFH allocates most of its own budget and assigns most of its staff to activities providing information, referral and assistance services to individuals and to educational programs aimed at the public at large or at specific groups.

Recommended Citation

Boston Urban Observatory, University of Massachusetts Boston, "Evaluation of City of Boston Fair Housing Programs: The Final Report" (1981). Boston Urban Observatory Publications. 5.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/bostonurbanobservatory_pubs/5

Publisher

Boston Urban Observatory