Leslie Credle v. Chelsea Housing Authority (SPR 20210874)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 21, 2021 SPR21/0874 Diane Cohen Director Chelsea Housing Authority 54 Locke Street Chelsea, MA 02111 Dear Ms. Cohen: I have received the petition of Leslie Credle of Justice For Housing appealing the response of Chelsea Housing Authority (Authority) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On February 16, 2021, Ms. Credle requested the following records for the “period of January 2015 through December 2020: 1. … the number of tenants and housing voucher recipients who have had their benefits (participation in the public housing or housing voucher recipients) restricted or terminated due to arrests or felony convictions. This includes, but is not limited to, tenants who may have lost their benefits because a family member was arrested and those whose arrest led to a loss of benefits. Please also indicate in such cases whether the person was arrested/convicted was the name on the voucher/housing certificate. 2. …what steps were taken by Chelsea Housing Authority to ensure that the participant members had their right to due process in adjudication on their benefits (whether restricted or terminated). 3. …the number of applicants to public housing who had arrests or prior convictions and the number of applicants who had arrests or prior convictions who were accepted. 4. …the number of applicant to the housing voucher program who had arrests or prior convictions and the number of applicants who had arrests or prior convictions who were accepted. 5. …what were the policies of and actions taken by Chelsea Housing Authority to assist housing insecure/low-income people exiting prison, in securing housing. This includes One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Diane Cohen SPR21/0874 Page 2 April 21, 2021 policies of how people exiting prison are treated in the application process, as well as the steps taken to work with other government agencies and nonprofit organizations to assist housing insecure/low-income people exiting the prison system in securing housing. 6…the number of applicants to public housing and the number of applicants to the housing voucher program with domestic violence incidents and the number of such applicants to both programs who were ultimately accepted according to the respective program.” On February 24, 2021, the Authority responded to the request. Unsatisfied with the Authority’s response, Ms. Credle petitioned this office and SPR21/0874 was opened as result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507,511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Current Appeal In its February 24th response the Authority stated “[t]he CHA does not have in a readily available format the records and information you have requested. …we have some information on denials and terminations of assistance, but do not break them out due to the reasons. Arrests and prior convictions are not tracked for applicants to public housing and/or housing voucher recipients. The same holds for those with domestic violence incidents and records and those that are ultimately accepted to the respective programs. The CHA does not have any specific polices and actions to assist housing insecure/low-income people exiting prison to secure housing.” The Authority further noted that “[t]he Executive Director, Al Ewing and I are more than happy to have a conversation with you and or staff on the process for determining eligibility for the various housing programs, along with the appeal rights applicants and tenants/residents are entitled to whenever there is a determination of adverse action – i.e., a denial of eligibility, termination of assistance or eviction.” In her current appeal Ms. Cradle noted “[t]o the extent that Chelsea Public Housing Authority has information on denials and terminations of assistance that already exist, it is required to furnish any responsive documents.”

Diane Cohen SPR21/0874 Page 3 April 21, 2021 Based on the Authority’s response, it is unclear if it possesses additional records responsive to the above request. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). I encourage Ms. Credle and the Authority to communicate in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. Ms. Credle may wish to include additional factors to enable the search to be processed. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(i). The Authority must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(vii) (an agency or municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Authority is ordered to provide Ms. Credle with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (10) business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Leslie Credle