WHA Executive Director Message:

July 14, 2020

This is an important notice. Please have it translated

An emergency law (eviction moratorium) temporarily protects residents from eviction during the COVID19 emergency.  The purpose of this notice is to make sure you understand the amount of rent you owe to the Housing Authority as your landlord. Below you will find a few important reminders.

• Despite the eviction moratorium, public housing residents are still required to continue to pay their rent. DHCD has waived the regulation requiring late fees during this time.
• As of right now, the eviction moratorium expires August 1, 2020. We will notify residents if this changes.
• Annual Recertifications for all WHA Residents have been postponed
• ALL residents are required to report an increase of 10% ore more in gross monthly household income by the 7^th day of the month following the month in which the increase occurred. This includes an increase due to receiving unemployment, child support, or an increase that occurred in 2019. You may always request an interim rent adjustment if your gross monthly household income decreases.
  • Residents who reside at 1-25 Barton Road and provided recertification documentation: Due to the postponement of annual recertifications your paperwork becomes null. If your income has changed please report this information again as soon as possible.   
• Annual recertifications for next year: WHA residents will have the opportunity to use the most recent 12 months or an average of the previous two years as an “estimate” of the upcoming year’s medical. I encourage residents to continue saving print outs from pharmacies, co-pay summaries, and requesting documentation from pharmacies, medical providers etc.
• DHCD has determined that the cost of face masks purchased by residents during the COVID-19 pandemic is an allowable medical expense to be included in the determination of the medical deduction. Verification of this expense will be a receipt provided by the resident.
• WHA offices remain closed to the public. Staff are onsite and available by phone (781) 235-0223 or email

Please reach out to Jacqueline Sullivan, jsullivan@wellesleyhousing.org or Viviana Veira, vveira@wellesleyhousing.org if you have any questions or concerns.

WHA Executive Director Message:

June 1, 2020

The Wellesley Housing Authority has implemented a draft policy review process, which allows residents to comment on draft policies before the policy goes to the Board of Commissioners to be adopted.

A draft policy will be displayed/available for comment for ten (10) days. The draft policy will be posted on the Wellesley Housing Authority website, http://www.wellesley-housing.org. Residents may also request that a draft policy be emailed to them, so the policy can be reviewed from home.

After the ten (10) day review period, all comments will be reviewed by a subcommittee, consisting of two (2) board members and the WHA staff.

Suggestions/comments can be submitted to Sean Barnicle by email, Sbarnicle@wellesleyhousing.org. If you do not have internet access, suggestions may be submitted by in the drop box at your community hall, or by hand delivering the suggestion to our main office, and passing the suggestion through the mail slot.

Please leave your name, address and phone number on the suggestions, so the subcommittee can contact you with any potential questions.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

WHA Executive Director Message:

May 18, 2020

Please answer the call

Baker-Polito Administration Provide Update on Community Tracing Collaborative

Today, the Baker-Polito Administration joined Partners in Health and local public health officials to provide an update on contract tracing efforts through the COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative (CTC) launched last month. The initiative focuses on tracing the contacts of confirmed positive COVID-19 patients, and supporting individuals in quarantine, building on COVID-19 Response Command Center efforts to leverage public health college students to augment the contact tracing being done by local boards of health.

If an individual tests positive for COVID-19, the MA COVID Team will reach out by phone to connect the confirmed case with support and resources necessary for quarantine, and to identify any close contacts that may have been exposed. As the CTC continues its contact tracing work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it is critical that Massachusetts residents answer the phone when a contact tracer calls or texts. Contact tracers will only reach out from phone numbers with 833 or 857 area codes, and the phone’s caller ID will say MA COVID Team

COVID-19 Homeless Isolation Sites

Currently there are sites in Lexington, Pittsfield, Taunton, Northampton, and Everett. These locations are for individuals who:

• Are homeless (people who normally sleep at a shelter, on the street, for whom home is unsafe due to violence, or who do not have a permanent address) OR
• Are a MassHealth member OR uninsured and under 133% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) AND
• Who are COVID-19 positive OR are symptomatic with a pending test and have a medical provider’s note recommending isolation AND
• Can safely isolate without medical supervision

These sites are for individuals who have mild or moderate symptoms and do not need hospital level of care or nursing facility level of care. Medical treatment is not provided on site. As noted above, individuals must have a positive COVID-19 test or must have been seen by a medical provider and directed to isolate for them to be accepted. These locations cannot support individuals who need assistance with Activities of Daily Living or who need the level of care provided at a Skilled Nursing Facility.

For shelter providers located outside Boston, please call 617-367-5150 between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The intake coordinator will determine eligibility, register an individual for the program, and have the guest placed and transported to the nearest Isolation and Recovery location that has availability.