Skip to content
Fitchburg Housing Authority

About Public Housing

The Fitchburg Housing Authority has hundreds of units of both family and elderly public housing for eligible low and moderate -income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. The FHA has housing options that range from scattered single family houses, townhouse style buildings to high-rise apartments.

Essentially, public housing is low-rent housing for eligible families, the elderly, and people with disabilities who meet the income guidelines and eligibility qualifications.
Public housing is limited to low-income families and individuals, whose adjusted incomes are at or below 80% of median income in the community. Public housing residents pay between 27% - 32% of their total income toward rent.

How To Apply

Public Housing

Applications for public housing can be obtained at the FHA’s main office at 50 Day Street, Fitchburg or you may download the application from the link below, but you must mail or bring the completed application physically to the office.
If you are disabled and need some assistance in completing applications for housing, or need some other accommodations in the application process, please tell us.

MRVP

Applications are available between the hours of 9:00am – 3:00pm Monday through Friday at the FHA’s main offices at 50 Day Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420. You may also obtain an application by mail by calling 978-342-5222 or emailing contact@fitchburgha.org. To request a reasonable accommodation or language assistance, please contact Yajaira Aldrich at 978-342-5222 (Ext. 105) or YAldrich@fitchburgha.org.

All MRVP applications received will be placed on the CHAMP wait list by priority and preference in accordance with date and time of their receipt. The CHAMP preferences for the MRVP waiting list are local (live or work in Fitchburg) and homeless.

AHVP

The Fitchburg Housing Authority will be accepting applications for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP). AHVP is a state mobile voucher subsidy for households with at least one member who is both under the age of 60 and disabled. All AHVP vouchers are one bedroom, except by reasonable accommodation.

Applicants who are non-elderly (less than 60 years age), with a disability, of low-income, and who are eligible and qualified for the c. 667 elderly/handicapped housing program are eligibile for the program.

If you prefer, paper applications are available between the hours of 9:00am – 3:00pm Monday through Friday at the FHA’s main offices at 50 Day Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420. You may also obtain an application by mail by calling 978-342-5222 or emailing contact@fitchburgha.org. To request a reasonable accommodation or language assistance, please contact Yajaira Aldrich, Director of Application and Customer Services at 978-342-5222 (Ext. 105) or YAldrich@fitchburgha.org.

Eligibility

Many factors are used to determine if someone is eligible for public housing or not. An applicant’s income, criminal history, past rental history, eviction records, ability to pay rent and maintain a clean and healthy home are all taken into consideration. The Authority may deny admission to any applicant whose habits and practices may be expected to have a detrimental effect on other tenants or on the project's environment, however, reasonable accommodations are available if a poor rental history is directly related to the applicant’s disabling condition.

The Elderly and Non-Elderly Disabled Status

Persons who are at least sixty (60) years of age are considered elderly. Non-elderly low income persons with one or more physical or mental impairments may be found eligible if the impairment is considered to be long and of a continued duration; and if the private market is unavailable to provide the applicant with the necessary special architectural design features and forces him or her to live in substandard housing and/or pay excessive rents.

Determining Veteran Status
Persons who can document that they are veterans will receive priority status for public housing.
Handicapped Status
If you are disabled and need some assistance in completing applications for housing, or need some other accommodations in the application process, please tell us. For our senior housing properties 13.5% of all units must be set-aside for non-elderly disabled.
If You Have a Housing Emergency
If you are disabled and need some assistance in completing applications for housing, or need some other accommodations in the application process, please tell us.

Application Status

The waiting time to begin the screening or final eligibility process varies from 10 weeks to over five years from your date of application, depending on the number of bedrooms and type of unit your household requires, your priority and preference points, and the number of units at the communities you have selected. When requesting status information, it must be in writing which includes your full name, address, phone number and last four digits of your social security number and you will need to produce a picture identification. If you are mailing your status request please include a copy of your picture identification.

It is impossible to identify what number families rank on the waiting lists as this number may vary daily. Therefore, we may only provide a rough estimate of when a family might be selected for the final eligibility screening process.

Updating Your Application

You are required to inform the housing authority in writing of any change that may affect the status of your application. Changes can include:
  • Address
  • Telephone number
  • Household composition
  • Section 8/Leased Housing priority and/or preferences
  • Public Housing priority and/or preferences
  • Reasonable Accommodation needs
You can make these and other changes to your application in the CHAMP system.

Appealing FHA Decisions & Your Appeal Rights

If an applicant is determined not eligible for the claimed priority, preference or housing, the applicant has the right to file an appeal.

MRVP

The Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), tenant-based voucher, also known as Mobile, is assigned to the Participant and is valid for any housing unit that meets the standards of the state sanitary code. A regional non-profit housing agency or a local housing authority administers the program locally. There are currently 8 regional non-profit housing agencies and 112 local housing authorities that administer the MRVP throughout the Commonwealth.

EOHLC's Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance, which administers this program, has the responsibility for regulatory and administrative oversight of all state public housing programs which address the needs of low-income families, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

MRVP Frequently Asked Questions

How It Works

For the Mobile component (tenant-based program), the state subsidy or voucher value is a set amount. This amount is determined by several factors: the tenant's income, household size and geography. The participant pays the difference between the value of the voucher and what the landlord charges for rent.

  • SRO - $606
  • Studio - $807
  • 1BR - $812
  • 2BR - $1,070
  • 3BR - $1,346
  • 4BR - $1,569
  • 5BR - $1,804
  • 6BR - $2,039
For Additional Information About the MRVP visit: Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) | Mass.gov

AHVP

How It Works

  • A program participant will pay rent in an amount equal to either 25% or 30% of the household’s monthly net income to the landlord.
  • The percentage charged depends on whether utilities are included or not included in the rent.
  • The local administering agency will provide rental assistance payments to the landlord on behalf of the program participant for the remainder of the monthly rental amount.
Small Area FMR’s (eff 10/1/2025)
For additional information about the AHVP visit: Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) | Mass.gov