General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 121B Housing and Urban Renewal

• Massachusetts General Laws - Definitions - Chapter 121B, Section 1
  The following words, whenever used in this chapter shall, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, have the following meanings:— “Acquisition cost”, the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Severability - Chapter 121B, Section 2
  The provisions of this chapter are hereby declared to be severable and if any such provision or the application of such provision to any person...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Housing authorities; creation; dissolution - Chapter 121B, Section 3
  There is hereby created, in each city and town in the commonwealth, a public body politic and corporate to be known as the “Housing authority”...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Regional housing authorities; creation; dissolution - Chapter 121B, Section 3A
  Any number of cities or towns may, with the approval of their respective municipal officers and of the department, create or disband by a contract...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Redevelopment authorities; creation; dissolution - Chapter 121B, Section 4
  There is hereby created, in each city and town in the commonwealth, a public body politic and corporate to be known as the “Redevelopment authority”...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Membership; appointment; election; term of office - Chapter 121B, Section 5
  Every housing and redevelopment authority shall be managed, controlled and governed by five members, appointed or elected as provided in this section, of whom three...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Charges against members; hearing; removal; resignation; suspension - Chapter 121B, Section 6
  The mayor or city council or board of selectmen may make or receive written charges against, and the mayor with the approval of the city...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Officers and executive director of authorities; compensation of members - Chapter 121B, Section 7
  A housing or redevelopment authority shall elect from among its members a chairman and a vice-chairman, and may employ counsel, an executive director who shall...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Operating agencies; housing authorities - Chapter 121B, Section 8
  The operating agencies having the powers and subject to the limitations provided in sections twenty-five to thirty-three, inclusive, shall be housing authorities.
• Massachusetts General Laws - Urban renewal agencies - Chapter 121B, Section 9
  The operating agencies having the powers and subject to the limitations provided in sections forty-five to fifty-seven, inclusive, to be known as urban renewal agencies,...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Designation of authorities - Chapter 121B, Section 10
  Unless otherwise particularly provided in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine the operating agencies having the powers and subject to the limitations provided in sections fifty-eight and...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Powers of operating agencies - Chapter 121B, Section 11
  Each operating agency shall have the powers and be subject to the limitations provided in sections one to sixteen, inclusive, shall have the powers necessary...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Wages; labor requirements; social security - Chapter 121B, Section 12
  Each contractor with an operating agency and each subcontractor shall comply with the applicable requirements of chapter one hundred and forty-nine as to wages and...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contract and tort liability; member’s personal liability; relocation of utility facilities - Chapter 121B, Section 13
  An operating agency shall be liable in contract or in tort in the same manner as a private corporation. The members, employees, officers and agents...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Federal loans; conveyance upon default - Chapter 121B, Section 14
  An operating agency may obligate itself, in any contract with the federal government for a loan or the payment of annual contributions authorized by section...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Bonds, notes, certificates; negotiable instruments - Chapter 121B, Section 15
  The bonds, notes and certificates of indebtedness of an operating agency, in the absence of an express recital to the contrary on the face thereof,...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Exemption from taxation for real estate and tangible personal property of operating agency; revaluation or reassessment of real property; payments in lieu of taxes - Chapter 121B, Section 16
  The real estate and tangible personal property of an operating agency including houses constructed by a housing authority on private land in rural areas under...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Liability of commonwealth or political subdivisions for debts of housing authority - Chapter 121B, Section 17
  No bond, note or other evidence of indebtedness executed or obligation or liability incurred by an operating agency shall be a debt or charge against...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Preparation of master plans, etc. by city or town; appropriation and payment - Chapter 121B, Section 18
  Whether or not an operating agency has been created therein any city or town may undertake, itself or by or through any department, board, agency,...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Initial costs and annual operating expenses of operating agencies; appropriations and payment by city - Chapter 121B, Section 19
  Cities and towns may raise and appropriate money for the purpose of defraying the initial costs and annual administrative expenses of an operating agency authorized...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Development, acquisition and operating costs; relocation payments; losses; appropriation and payment by city - Chapter 121B, Section 20
  A city or town in which an operating agency has been organized may raise and appropriate, or may borrow, or may agree with such agency...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Indebtedness limitation - Chapter 121B, Section 21
  Indebtedness authorized under section twenty shall be outside the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section ten of chapter forty-four, and shall be payable within twenty...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Emergency finance board; permission to incur indebtedness - Chapter 121B, Section 22
  So long as the emergency finance board, established under section one of chapter forty-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-three, is in existence,...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Municipal powers - Chapter 121B, Section 23
  For the purpose of complying with the conditions of federal legislation, or in lieu of a contribution, loan or grant in cash to an operating...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Agreement to bear acquisition loss - Chapter 121B, Section 24
  A city or town, in which the operating agency, pursuant to section forty-seven, proposes to take, acquire or clear land constituting the whole or part...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Statement of emergency - Chapter 121B, Section 25
  It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth, and that there is not in the commonwealth, within...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Powers of a housing authority - Chapter 121B, Section 26
  A housing authority shall have the following powers in addition to those set forth in section eleven or elsewhere in this chapter:--  (a) To make studies...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Powers of department in city without housing authority; financing of projects; bonds and notes; issuance and sale; approval of city or town - Chapter 121B, Section 26A
  The department shall have all the powers of a housing authority under this chapter and be subject to all the limitations on such powers, provided...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Rural housing authority; additional powers - Chapter 121B, Section 27
  If a housing authority organized in a city or town in which rural areas are located shall undertake the provision of housing for families of...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Application of laws, ordinances, and regulations of cities or towns relating to buildings, planning, zoning and public health - Chapter 121B, Section 28
  Except as provided in section thirty with respect to projects leased from the federal government, every housing project shall be subject to all laws and...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Accounts and reports of housing authorities; investigations by department; rules and regulations of department - Chapter 121B, Section 29
  Each housing authority shall keep an accurate account of all its activities and all its receipts and expenditures and shall annually in the month of...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contract with federal government; acquiring federally owned project - Chapter 121B, Section 30
  A housing authority, with the written approval of the department and of the mayor of the city or selectmen of the town in which the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Submission of plans for low-rent housing project to department; application; hearing; disposition - Chapter 121B, Section 31
  A housing authority shall not undertake a low-rent housing project until it has submitted to the department the plans and description of the project, the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Maintenance and operation of project; rentals; tenant selection; eligibility for continued occupancy; hearings; waiver - Chapter 121B, Section 32
  Upon the completion or acquisition of a housing project by a housing authority, it shall be maintained and operated by such authority. It is hereby...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Parking areas; rules and regulations; towing - Chapter 121B, Section 32A
  A housing authority may make reasonable rules and regulations for the use of parking areas under its control and may make reasonable charges for the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Definitions - Chapter 121B, Section 32B
  As used in sections thirty-two B to thirty-two F, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the content otherwise requires: “Landlord”, the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Unlawful conduct by tenant, members or non-members of tenant household; civil action by landlord for injunctive or other equitable relief - Chapter 121B, Section 32C
  Whenever a person who is not a member of a tenant household has, on or near a public housing development or a subsidized housing development:...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Actions by tenants or tenants’ organizations - Chapter 121B, Section 32D
  A tenant or member of a tenant household in a public or subsidized housing development whose health or safety has been seriously threatened as described...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Jurisdiction over civil actions; appellate review - Chapter 121B, Section 32E
  Civil actions under section thirty-two C or thirty-two D shall be instituted in the housing or superior court departments having jurisdiction where the residential premises...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Restraining orders and injunctions; form; service; enforcement; violations; effect; modification and vacation - Chapter 121B, Section 32F
  Whenever a court, pursuant to section thirty-two C, issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering a defendant to refrain from...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Equivalent elimination of substandard dwelling units - Chapter 121B, Section 33
  No project for low-rent housing involving the construction of new dwellings shall be undertaken by a housing authority unless the city or town has entered...
• Massachusetts General Laws - State and federal financial assistance; general provisions - Chapter 121B, Section 34
  The commonwealth acting by and through the department may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for state financial assistance in the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contracts for state financial assistance on leased MHFA projects to provide replacement or relocation housing; annual contributions; limitations - Chapter 121B, Section 34A
  The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for state financial assistance in the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Commonwealth guaranteed temporary notes; authorization and execution; sale and refunding limitations; terms - Chapter 121B, Section 34B
  Any contract for state financial assistance entered into by the commonwealth with a housing authority pursuant to section thirty-four may provide for additional state financial...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contracts for supplementary state financial assistance - Chapter 121B, Section 35
  The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for supplementary state financial assistance in...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Receipt of loans and grants from federal sources or from other sources - Chapter 121B, Section 36
  The commonwealth shall have power to receive loans and grants from the federal government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from any other source,...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Commonwealth grants; guarantee of temporary notes; sale, maintenance, and operation of relocation projects; limitations on eminent domain - Chapter 121B, Section 37
  For the purpose of avoiding, so far as practicable, during the period of public exigency, emergency and distress now existing on account of the acute...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Declaration of policy - Chapter 121B, Section 38
  It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth and that there is not, in certain parts of...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Bureau of housing for the handicapped; director; functions - Chapter 121B, Section 38A
  There shall be within the department a bureau of housing for the handicapped, in the division of community development. The bureau shall consist of the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Service coordinator program - Chapter 121B, Section 38B
  The department is authorized to establish a program to provide service coordinators to assist residents in housing developed pursuant to sections thirty-nine and forty. The...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Power to provide housing for elderly and handicapped persons of low income; priorities in placement - Chapter 121B, Section 39
  The housing authority of each city or town organized under section three shall have power to provide housing for elderly persons of low income and...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Provisions applicable to housing for elderly and handicapped persons of low income - Chapter 121B, Section 40
  The following provisions shall be applicable to housing for elderly persons of low income and handicapped persons of low income: (a) There shall be no...
• Massachusetts General Laws - State financial assistance; housing for elderly persons of low income - Chapter 121B, Section 41
  The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for state financial assistance in the...
• Massachusetts General Laws - State financial assistance; housing for handicapped persons of low income - Chapter 121B, Section 41A
  The commonwealth acting through and by the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for financial assistance in the form...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Declaration of necessity - Chapter 121B, Section 42
  It is hereby declared (a) that there does not now exist within the commonwealth an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary dwelling and such...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contracts to rent, lease or provide financial assistance to housing units by housing authorities - Chapter 121B, Section 43
  In addition to its other powers and for the purpose of implementing a program of rental assistance a housing authority may enter into contracts to...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Relocation of residents; leased housing units - Chapter 121B, Section 43A
  If a person resides in a private dwelling unit or such other housing unit subject to regulations promulgated by the department of housing and community...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Rentals and tenant selection - Chapter 121B, Section 44
  The requirements with respect to rentals and tenant selection for low-rent housing projects shall apply to units leased by a housing authority under the rental...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Leasing of housing units in MHFA projects for replacement or relocation housing authorized - Chapter 121B, Section 44A
  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a housing authority, in addition to its other powers and for the purpose of replacing dwelling units or...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Declaration of necessity - Chapter 121B, Section 45
  It is hereby declared that substandard, decadent or blighted open areas exist in certain cities and towns in this commonwealth; that each constitutes a serious...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Powers of urban renewal agency - Chapter 121B, Section 46
  An urban renewal agency shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes of relevant provisions of the General...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Acquisition by eminent domain; notice; petition - Chapter 121B, Section 47
  Notwithstanding any contrary provision of this chapter, an urban renewal agency may, with the consent of the department and municipal officers, and after a temporary...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Public hearing; notice; urban renewal plans; approval; acquisition of property - Chapter 121B, Section 48
  No urban renewal project shall be undertaken until (1) a public hearing relating to the urban renewal plan for such project has been held after...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Sale or lease of property acquired for urban renewal project - Chapter 121B, Section 49
  If an urban renewal agency shall sell or lease any property acquired by it for an urban renewal project, the terms of such sales or...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Delegation of power to municipality to plan and undertake project - Chapter 121B, Section 50
  An urban renewal agency is hereby authorized to delegate to a city or town or other public body or to any board or officer of...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Redevelopment authority taking over project initiated by housing authority - Chapter 121B, Section 51
  A housing authority of a city or town which, prior to the organization of a redevelopment authority in such city or town, has initiated an...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Accounts and reports of urban renewal agencies; civil service rules - Chapter 121B, Section 52
  Each urban renewal agency shall keep an accurate account of all its activities, receipts and expenditures in connection with the planning and execution of urban...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Application for urban renewal assistance grant or urban revitalization and development grant - Chapter 121B, Section 53
  Any city or town, acting by and through its urban renewal agency, may apply to the department for an urban renewal assistance grant to meet...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Determination of compliance and final approved cost; notice - Chapter 121B, Section 54
  Upon receipt of an application under the provisions of section fifty-three the department shall examine such application and any facts, estimates or other information relative...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Certification and payment of grants - Chapter 121B, Section 55
  From time to time, the department shall certify to the comptroller, and the state treasurer shall, within thirty days after each such certification, pay to...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contract to provide financial assistance - Chapter 121B, Section 56
  The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may contract with the cities and towns of the commonwealth, acting by and through urban renewal agencies...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Advance of funds; amount; payments - Chapter 121B, Section 57
  The department may make advances of funds to local urban renewal agencies for up to seventy-five per cent of the estimated cost of surveys and...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Repealed, 2012, 238, Sec. 47 - Chapter 121B, Section 57A
  Repealed, 2012, 238, Sec.
• Massachusetts General Laws - Declaration of necessity - Chapter 121B, Section 58
  It is hereby declared (a) that there exist in certain cities and towns in the commonwealth substandard dwelling houses in urban renewal project areas which...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Contracts for state financial assistance; rehabilitation projects - Chapter 121B, Section 59
  The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with an operating agency having powers under this section for...
• Massachusetts General Laws - Housing Preservation and Stabilization Trust Fund - Chapter 121B, Section 60
  [ Text of section added by 2013, 38, Sec. 106 effective July 1, 2013. See 2013, 38, Sec. 219.](a) There shall be a Housing Preservation...

Last modified: September 11, 2015