May 18, 2016  

Contact: Lori Nelson, BHA Communications Director, (617) 988-4405

For Immediate Release

Boston - Today Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Housing Authority Administrator Bill McGonagle announced the renaming of the Bromley-Heath public housing development in Jamaica Plain in honor of Mildred C. Hailey, the long-time leader of the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation (TMC) and nationally known advocate for public housing residents and tenant-led housing management

“Mildred Hailey was a community leader who brought scores of positive change to residents and families throughout the City of Boston,” said Mayor Walsh. “The impact of her years of service to our community, most notably through her work with the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation, is still evident across our city today and I am proud that from this day forward Bromley-Heath will be known as the Mildred C. Hailey apartments.”

As a result of Ms. Hailey’s advocacy, the Bromley-Heath TMC was formed in 1971 and in 1973, the BHA turned over responsibility for the development to the residents with Hailey at the helm. The community became the first public housing development in the nation to be directly managed by its residents. Hailey and other members of the Bromley-Heath tenant association advocated for better conditions in the development and greatly improved the quality of life for residents there.

“Ms. Hailey certainly earned this honor,” said former BHA Administrator and State Representative Doris Bunte. “It is a very appropriate way to honor her legacy.”

Beginning in the early 1960s, a core group of residents united to establish programs that would improve the quality of life for all residents. Hailey became the first Housing Manager of Bromley’s Tenant Management Corporation and then served as TMC’s Executive Director until her retirement in 2012.

In addition to her work at the development, Mildred collaborated in a variety of initiatives related to crime, health, and substance abuse and was instrumental in the creation of the Martha Elliot Health Center in Jamaica Plain.

She also played a role in the passing of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 by helping the US Conference of Mayors secure a meeting with HUD Secretary Jack Kemp and President Ronald Reagan. She was a founding member of the National Association of Resident Management Corporation, served on the board of the National Tenant Organization, and on the National Commission for Distressed Public Housing. In her later years she advocated for mental health, LGBT issues, and established a trauma team. Hailey believed that everyone was salvageable if only given a chance, and she never turned anyone in need away. Despite many offers, she refused to leave Bromley and retired in 2012 at 79 due to health issues. Control of the development returned to BHA at that time.

“Mildred was a remarkable woman that was known nationally for her work,” said BHA Administrator Bill McGonagle. “She brought about many improvements to Bromley-Heath that enhanced the lives of the residents who lived there and cared deeply about her community.”

The Bromley Health Development was built as three separate developments starting with Heath Street in 1941. Construction began on Bromley Park in 1954 on Bickford Street in June 1961.

In the 1950s, Bromley-Heath was isolated from both Roxbury and the greater Jamaica Plain area, and minorities moving in around 1954 were not well received. They faced a lack of police protection, were denied basic services like trash pick-up and mail, while the development suffered significant disrepair. It was against this backdrop that Mildred became a full time activist and community leader.

About Boston Authority (BHA)

Boston Housing Authority (BHA) provides affordable housing to more than 58,000 residents in and around the City of Boston. Residents are assisted through a combination of public housing and federal and state voucher subsidy programs that provide a wide variety of housing opportunities. As the largest public housing authority in New England, the BHA houses close to 9 percent of the city’s residents.

Our mission is to provide stable, quality affordable housing for low and moderate income persons; to deliver these services with integrity and mutual accountability; and to create living environments which serve as catalysts for the transformation from dependency to economic self-sufficiency.