News and Updates
Press Release - Phyllis Corbitt testifies on behalf of Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants February 18, 2011
I live in Old Colony -- a public housing community in Boston that was built in 1940. For over 70 years Old Colony has been home for tens of thousands of families. I raised my family there. Now, Republicans in Congress may be throwing our country’s public housing investment down the tubes – now when we need it more than ever.
Old Colony was one of the most distressed federal public housing properties in Boston, and one of the largest. BHA has been piecing funding together to save Old Colony and make the major improvements that are needed to provide housing for another 70 years or maybe more. It was moving forward – replacing buildings in phases. If Republican impose the deep cuts that they are proposing, I fear that our progress will stop. And progress would stop all over the country.
Families who live in Old Colony cannot afford housing in the private market. And there are many more families who have no other choice but to live in a shelter, or worse, on the street.
Senator Brown is no stranger to needing support at the right time. But has he forgotten what it is like to be the underdog? Will he do what Massachusetts Republicans in the Senate did before him for people in Massachusetts and all over the country?
Massachusetts Republican Senator Brooke joined with public housing residents and public housing agencies to make sure people have a decent home that we can afford.
We need Senator Brown to do the same.
As BHA Administrator Bill McGonagle said in his testimony on Valentine’s Day - housing is a basic human right. The US is the richest country in the world, how can we not house our own people?
Thank you.