James Arciero honored by MassNAHRO

Published in The Lowell Sun on June 17, 2022

FALMOUTH — State Rep. James Arciero, D-Westford, recently received an appreciation award from the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials during the public organization’s three-day annual conference in May.

MassNAHRO Executive Director Donna Brown-Rego awarded a framed plague to Arciero, who has worked closely with MassNAHRO during his chairmanship of the Joint Committee on Housing for the 192nd session of the Massachusetts General Court.

MassNAHRO helps organize and coordinate the 242 local housing authorities across the state, managing over 43,000 units of state-subsidized housing and 38,000 units of federal-subsidized housing, which serves not only individuals and families in desperate need of affordable and public housing, but veterans, seniors and people with disabilities.

“I’m incredibly honored to be recognized by MassNAHRO with this award,” Arciero said. “Working alongside Donna and Chelmsford Housing Director David Hedison during the previous year and half has been wonderful, as housing has been a strong priority of Speaker Ronald Mariano and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, especially during the COVID pandemic.”

Hedison said Arciero “has always been a hero in the communities he was elected to serve in,” and that he was thankful to call him his representative and friend.

“In his new role as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Housing, he is able to make even greater impact on the lives of countless people in need of housing across Massachusetts,” Hedison said. “His passion and dedication to those in need of housing is second to none.”

“Massachusetts public housing authorities have successfully campaigned for and received additional resources for operating expenses and capital needs in the past several months,” Brown-Rego said. “It is thanks to the incredible support from our legislators and their trust in the work these agencies do.”

She said they wanted to recognize Arciero for his leadership in helping to secure $150 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the modification and modernization of public housing authorities and a $7 million operating subsidy increase in the state’s fiscal 2023 budget. The budget also included $92 million for public housing authorities and $5 million for public housing service coordinators, both budget requests of  MassNAHRO.

“Without housing, individuals and families are at risk in a number of ways beyond homelessness, including loss of employment and income, loss of health care coverage and interruption of medical care and a loss of education,” Arciero said. “Without a place to call home, people and families simply cannot live with the dignity that they deserve. I thank MassNAHRO and every public housing officials for making sure citizens across the commonwealth have a decent place to live.”