End of the Line: One Video Is Worth a Thousand Lawsuits
In 1997, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute issued a wake-up call to housing authorities across the state with a video documenting a long line of people — women and men, most with children; people with disabilities; people in wheelchairs; young and old — all waiting to apply for a Section 8 voucher in Fall River, Massachusetts.
This was not a line for housing. It was a line for an application for housing.
More than a thousand people waited outside the Fall River Housing Authority overnight, having traveled from all parts of the state for a chance to stand in line for an application. At 7:00 a.m. there was a stampede as housing authority staff arrived because no one wanted to be at the end of the line. It was first come, first served. It was chaos.
Up until 1997, this line had been repeated numerous times each year at most of the 150 Massachusetts housing authorities that used a competitive "first come, first served" procedure to take names for their Section 8 voucher waiting lists.
With this video as evidence, MLRI filed an administrative complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), claiming that the Fall River Housing Authority's procedures discriminated against people with disabilities. At the same time, MLRI met with HUD to urge that the agency address the problem with a systemic solution.
The result: The Fall River Housing Authority agreed to use a lottery system to level the playing field and Boston’s HUD office issued guidelines to all Massachusetts housing authorities with Section 8 programs about how to open waiting lists using a lottery system to avoid legal and practical problems.As a result of MLRI’s advocacy there are no more mob scenes like the one in 1997. Housing authorities in Massachusetts use application systems that are user-friendly, fairer, and non-discriminatory.
For more about how to apply for public and subsidized housing in Massachusetts see: Finding Public and Subsidized Housing
End of the Line was created by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in 1997. It was filmed, produced, and directed by Ferrini Productions.
