REGION — State Representative James Arciero was recently awarded an appreciation award from the Massachusetts’s chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (MassNAHRO) during the public organization’s three-day annual conference event in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
MassNAHRO Executive Director Donna Brown-Rego awarded the framed plaque to Representative 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 Commonwealth, 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 our veterans seniors and people with disabilities populations.
“I’m incredibly honored to be recognized by MassNAHRO with this award,” Representative 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.”
“Representative Arciero has always been a hero in the communities he was elected to serve in,” Hedison said. “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. His passion and dedication to those in need of housing is second to none. I am thankful to call him our Representative as well as a friend.”
“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. We especially wanted to recognize Chairman Arciero with an Award of Appreciation for his leadership as Housing Chair in helping to secure $150 million in ARPA funds and $7 million increase in operating subsidy in the FY23 budget.”
Arciero was applauded by the numerous housing authority directors Sunday night as Arciero, who was named the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing in January of 2021, and the House allocated $150 million for the remodification and modernization of public housing authorities during budget deliberations of the American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Roughly two weeks ago, Arciero and the House passed their Fiscal Year 2023 budget, which would provide $92 million for public housing authorities as well as $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,” Representative 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.”
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