Somerville Housing Authority

Somerville Housing Authority provides access to subsidized housing for eligible low and moderate-income families and elderly and are proud of the quality of our residential communities and surrounding services. Overseeing more than 1,400 units of affordable housing in Somerville, Massachusetts, the employees of SHA have built a reputation for providing all SHA residents with the highest standards of decent, safe and sanitary housing. We are proud of the achievements of excellence, professionalism, performance and response our staff demonstrates on a daily basis, serving all residents of the SHA and the city.

We hope your experience with the Somerville Housing Authority is beneficial.
ATTENTION: Due to an access improvement project on the main entry of 30 Memorial Road, Somerville Housing Authority (SHA) Administrative Services will be temporarily relocated from 30 Memorial Road, to 30R Memorial Road, the SHA Modernization Office. SHA Business will be received at the Modernization office beginning Monday, September 25, 2023. This office will be open to the public during regular SHA business hours. For any questions on this project, please reach 617-625-1152 and ask to speak with a member of the Modernization Department.

SHA Announcements

Pressley, Ballantyne, Advocates Celebrate $2.4M Secured for Somerville’s Clarendon Hill Housing Community

Federal Dollars Delivered by Pressley Will Boost Affordable Housing, Accessibility, Green Space, and Safe Transit for Ethnically, Linguistically & Economically Diverse Neighborhood

View Full Press Release

Telephone Notification System

Subscribe to our text message service!!

The Somerville Housing Authority uses a telephone notification service to send important messages to residents. This is similar to the method used by the city to send out notices for school closings and snow emergencies. In order to receive these messages, residents must make sure their manager has an up-to-date telephone number. We also encourage residents to subscribe to our text message service by texting shaalert to 80123. Messages are infrequent, but will contain important information to the SHA community.

SHA News & Events

The Regular Board Meeting of the Somerville Housing Authority wil be held in-person on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 4:00 pm at the Mystic Activity Center located at 530 Mystic Avenue, Somerville, MA.

Event: Around Hear Concert(s) at the Mystic Activity Center!

Around Hear's Upcoming Concert Schedule


Diane Cohen, Executive Director, headshot picture

SHA SELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Somerville Housing Authority Board of Commissioners recently appointed Diane Cohen as Executive Director. Cohen will replace outgoing director Joe Macaluso who held the position since 1996.

Diane Cohen’s career spans more than 30 years of progressive leadership in administrative roles for housing agencies. She has been at the SHA for the past year but previously served for 22 years as Deputy Director for the Chelsea Housing Authority.

Among previous roles, Cohen worked at Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership and served as Executive Director of the Burlington Housing Authority. She was appointed as a commissioner to the Reading Housing Authority by former Governor Mitt Romney in 2004. Cohen has earned many distinctive service awards from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), currently serving as Vice Chair of Professional Development Committee, and on its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Committee. In addition, she serves as Treasurer for the New England Regional Council National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials and is a member of the Massachusetts NAHRO Insurance Group.

Cohen says she is looking forward to working with the talented staff and wonderful residents of the Authority. ‘Our mission is to deliver safe affordable housing opportunities for our residents while continuing to find ways to bring new permanently affordable units to Somerville residents.”

SHA Board chairman Joe Capuano congratulated Diane and thanked the Board for their deliberative search process. Capuano stated “we appreciate the transparency of the public search process conducted by executive director search firm, D & V Mainsail. We are also grateful for the participation of our residents that aided in the selection.”

Governor Healy’s Secretary of Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Edward M. Augustus, Jr., approved the search process, recruitment and terms of the employment contract between the SHA and Cohen to ensure the state’s guidelines were followed. She assumed her new role effective November 13, 2023.

The SHA uses MassRelay TTY at 711. You can also ask for disability-related assistance when you contact the SHA, including reasonable accommodations and auxiliary aids and services.

If you believe you have been discriminated against, call the HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity national toll-free hotline at 1-800-669-9777. Or, you may contact the local HUD field office at Boston Regional Office of FHEO, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Federal Building:

10 Causeway Street, Room 308, Boston, Massachusetts 02222
(617) 994-8300. (800) 827-5005. TTY (800) 877-8339

Any individual who believes he or she has been denied employment or housing, discharged, or has suffered discrimination in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment or housing on the basis of race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, ancestry, disability, marital status, veteran status, membership in the armed forces, presence of children, or political beliefs, receipt of public assistance rental assistance or housing subsidy or any other basis prohibited by law, has the right to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD)
One Ashburton Place, Room 601
Boston, MA 02108
Telephone: (617) 727-3990
TTY # (617) 727-3990 ext. 588

You are entitled to free translation and interpretation services upon request by calling the SHA at (617) 625-1152.

If you are applying for or receiving assistance under any housing operated by a public housing authority, you may have housing protections under VAWA. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a federal law that, in part, provides housing protections for people applying for or living in units subsidized by the federal government and who have experienced domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, to help keep them safe and reduce their likelihood of experiencing homelessness.

Please see two important VAWA forms: Notice of Occupancy Rights under the Violence Against Women Act VAWA (HUD form 5380) and Certification of Domestic Violence (HUD Form 5382) below for SHA’s Federal Housing Programs: