(Alexandre Zveiger | Dreamstime.com)
Massachusetts has 184,000 people on a waiting list for the state’s 41,500 subsidized apartments. But an investigation by WBUR and ProPublica found nearly 2,300 of those state-funded apartments are vacant. Almost 1,800 of the apartments have been vacant for more than 60 days. And about 730 units have been empty for at least a year. The state pays local housing authorities to maintain and operate those units even when they are empty. Meanwhile, the state is also spending millions of dollars each month to house people temporarily in hotel rooms, dorm rooms, and other shelters.
