This week, the Salem Rotary Club welcomed Cathy Sheehan, Executive Director of the Salem and Marblehead Housing Authorities and President of Housing Opportunities of Salem, Inc. Cathy has held executive leadership roles in public housing since 1997 and is a licensed mental health counselor and marriage and family therapist with more than 25 years of social service and mental health experience. She gave members a clear and informative overview of how public housing works in Salem and the many services the Housing Authority provides.

Cathy began by explaining what a housing authority actually is. The Salem Housing Authority is a quasi-governmental agency that receives state and federal funding to provide subsidized housing and rental vouchers to people who qualify. It is a separate entity from the City and is not part of the City’s budget, and its employees are not state or federal employees. Massachusetts stands out nationally, with 242 housing authorities across the state, and it is one of only four states, along with New York, Connecticut and Hawaii, that fund housing authorities separately from the federal government.

Here in Salem, the Housing Authority owns and manages 454 units of state-aided housing for elderly and disabled residents and 211 units of state-aided family housing. It also manages 1,346 federally funded vouchers. Most of these are mobile vouchers that families can use to rent anywhere in the country, while 287 are project-based vouchers tied to privately owned developments in the city.

In 2024, the Housing Authority created Housing Opportunities of Salem, Inc., a nonprofit that helps create affordable housing and serves as a vehicle for development and redevelopment projects. It currently owns 39 affordable units in Salem. The Salem Housing Authority also manages the Marblehead Housing Authority and its 307 state-aided units through a management services agreement, an arrangement common across Massachusetts that lets smaller agencies benefit from a larger agency’s expertise and staff. Cathy noted that the state is studying broader regionalization of housing authorities as a priority.

Although housing authorities aren’t required to develop property, Cathy explained that it makes sense given shrinking funding and the significant need for affordable housing. Through a partnership with a private developer, the Housing Authority redeveloped Leefort Terrace, preserving and greatly improving 50 units of public housing while adding 60 new affordable units. A second partnership is in early planning to add affordable housing on surplus land at 17–27 First Street.

Cathy also highlighted the programs that support residents beyond housing itself. The Future Forward and Family Self-Sufficiency programs offer intensive case management that helps residents increase their earnings without a rent increase while saving money in escrow for use when they graduate. The Housing Now program supports families moving out of emergency shelters, and service coordinators connect residents with wellness activities, financial literacy, meals, fuel assistance, fresh food and more, helping reduce isolation and build community.

For anyone looking to apply, state-aided programs use a statewide waitlist known as CHAMP, federal voucher programs use AffordableHousing.com, and Salem keeps separate waitlists for project-based housing. Links to all applications are available at salemha.org.

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