Southeast Division of the Housing Court Department

This is a state performance audit of the Southeast Division of the Massachusetts Housing Court covering July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, and conclusions for the audit period, July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016.”

Auditors checked whether the court had a process to ensure housing specialists met the legal qualifications required for their jobs.

“Does SHC have a process in place to ensure that housing specialists (HSs) meet the established criterion, Section 16 of Chapter 185C of the General Laws, to fulfill its duties?”

Housing specialists help settle housing disputes before they go to a judge, which can reduce judges' workloads.

“SHC also provides mediation services through HSs to help parties involved in pending cases reach mutually acceptable agreements instead of going before a judge, thus decreasing the number of cases judges have to hear.”

If you live in the court's area and have a housing dispute, housing specialists may help resolve the issue without a full court hearing before a judge.

“According to the Massachusetts Trial Court website, HSs mediated more than half of the SHC cases for fiscal years 2015 and 2016.”

The auditor answered the main audit question yes: the court had a process to make sure housing specialists met the required standard.

“Below is our audit objective, indicating the question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding the objective.”

The report says the Trial Court was looking at expanding housing court access and/or increasing housing specialists statewide.

“Considering the work conducted by the HSs at SHC, as supported by the above statistics, and the fact that the five existing HCD division jurisdictions do not cover all the cities and towns in Massachusetts, the Trial Court is pursuing expanding these courts and/or increasing the number of HSs in an effort to provide all residents of the Commonwealth with access to housing litigation assistance.”

The court handled thousands of cases, and housing specialists mediated many of them, so their qualifications matter to how efficiently the court works.

“According to statistics on the Massachusetts Trial Court website, SHC filed 8,870 cases in fiscal year 2015, with 5,988 cases mediated by HSs, and it filed 9,207 cases in fiscal year 2016, with 5,926 cases mediated by HSs.”

Housing specialists are court staff who know housing law and practical housing issues, inspect sanitary code violations for the court, and mediate housing disputes.

“The Chief Housing Specialist supports the presiding justices, conducts State Sanitary Code violation inspections for the court, and serves as a mediator in litigation involving housing-related issues.”