Bealeaguered Natick Housing Authority on the upswing

By Megan McKee, Town Correspondent

Months after the Natick Housing Authority drew criticism from residents who said they felt unsafe in their homes and ignored by the authority’s staff members, things are improving, according to residents, state officials, and new board members.

The housing authority board members “have been very, very positive toward things that are of interest to the tenants,” said George Ross, head of the Cedar Gardens Tenants Organization.

The five-member housing authority board oversees staff and policies, and was seen as unresponsive by tenants prior to the election of two new members this past spring. “Board meetings have gone from 45 minutes or an hour to an hour and a half to 2 hours. They ask questions,” said Ross.

Cedar Gardens, a 260-unit complex, is just one of the housing authority’s sites in town—the authority owns 600 units altogether—but was the source of numerous complaints from residents including locks that weren’t secure, inadequate snow removal, and an alleged Peeping Tom.

“Since January 2010, 30 deferred maintenance projects have been successfully completed and 21 units have been renovated and re-occupied by tenants from the NHA waiting list,” said Philip Hailer, spokesman for the state Department of Community and Housing Development. His agency has some oversight over housing authorities.

He said the Natick Housing Authority’s entire management and maintenance staff underwent a two-day training session led by his agency, new locks have been installed, and snow removal has improved.

Erica Ball, who along with Charlene Foss was elected to the board in March, said the state has been instrumental in getting the maintenance staff on track, and overseeing their work on a weekly basis.

“I have to commend the role of the state in this in really sending some qualified supervisors in Natick to work with our maintenance team to give them direction and supervision,” she said.

Ball and Foss replaced two board members: one who had served 30 years and the other who had served 40 years.

Ball said the housing authority’s staff including executive director Edward Santos has been responsive to the board.

“They need to make sure they have the answers when we ask the questions. It means people are more on their toes. That’s just fine. That’s what we want to see,” she said.

Santo could not be reached for comment.

Santos had been criticized by residents for ignoring their concerns. In a Globe interview in January, he said residents’ concerns were overblown.

“Everyone has gotten a little crazy with it. It’s a little bit of a hysteria thing,’’ said Santos at the time. He said the real issue was that residents weren’t locking their doors.

Ball said the board will be bringing back performance evaluations for housing authority staff, a process that fell by the wayside a long time ago. Santos has been the executive director since 1984.

Ross, head of tenants’ organization, said the group is working out a legally-binding agreement with the housing authority board that will outline the recourse tenants can take if they have problems with the housing authority.

Ball said the additional turnover in units has brought much-needed income to the housing authority, which relies on its rents to make improvements.

“There’s still a great deal left to do,” said Ball.

Megan McKee can be reached at megan.mckee@gmail.com.