From the Office of Senator Kerry

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA), the ranking member of the Senate Banking subcommittee on Housing, today announced that the Lowell Housing Authority was included as one of the top performing Public Housing Authority (PHA) in the country. These PHA's were acknowledged today at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Senator Kerry said, "Too often we see the failures in public housing and not enough recognition of the successes. This recognition is a tribute to the good work of PHA directors and staff that have dedicated themselves to improving public housing in their communities. With the help of these new performance standards we can showcase these well-performing PHAs, and focus on improving the most troubled properties."

These PHAs are being recognized under the guidelines of new performance standard, Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS). The new PHAS guidelines were included in the public housing reform legislation passed the 105th Congress through efforts led by Senator Kerry. As a result of the legislation, all HUD funded properties now receive independent inspections along with financial and management reviews.

Lowell was designated as a successful Housing Authority based on physical inspection, financial management, resident satisfaction and management operations.

In addition, the first inspection results show that more than 80 percent of public and multi-housing properties are in good or excellent condition and 75 percent of respondents said that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their housing units.

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