Waltham Housing Authority approves Fair Market Rents payment standards

The Waltham Housing Authority approved new Section 8 payment standards after federal Fair Market Rents rose more modestly than in recent years, keeping its subsidy benchmark at 110% of those rents. 

On Sept. 1, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its fiscal year 2027 Fair Market Rents for the Boston-Quincy-Cambridge, Massachusetts-New Hampshire metropolitan area, which includes Waltham. Fair Market Rents are annual estimates of the cost of renting modestly priced housing in a given market. 

Local housing authorities such as the WHA set the Housing Choice Voucher Program payment standards based on the federally established rent estimates. 

For the year beginning Nov., 2025, WHA set its payment standards at 110% of Fair Market Rent. On Tuesday afternoon, the WHA voted to keep the payment standards at 110% for another year. Effective Nov. 1 through Oct. 31, 2027, the standards will be: $2,684 for a studio, $2,769 for a one-bedroom, $3,308 for a two-bedroom, $3,942 for a three-bedroom and $4,348 for a four-bedroom. Across apartment types, WHA payment standards will increase by about 2.1% on average from the previous year. 

WHA Executive Director John Gollinger said this year’s FMR increase was minimal compared to harsher increases in recent years. 

Still, Gollinger said rising subsidy costs can limit how many vouchers the authority supports. Even if the WHA is authorized to issue a certain number of vouchers, he said higher costs for each subsidized unit can eat away at the funding available to serve additional households.  

“It’s just a war of attrition,” Gollinger told The Waltham Times. 

Marguerite Avenue units stalemate continues

The future of two handicap-accessible homes on Marguerite Avenue remains unresolved as the WHA waits for the state Department of Mental Health to make a decision on the properties. The properties have been in limbo for nearly a year, since the housing authority’s long-term agreement with the DMH expired in October 2025. 

In the early 1990s, the state entered into a 30-year lease with the Waltham Housing Authority for two units in a single home on Marguerite Avenue, previously used by employees of Metropolitan State Hospital. Under the agreement, DMH leased the properties while the authority collected rent, which was minimal given its Section 8 status and therefore a fraction of the total rent. 

Gollinger said the federal HOME program funded renovations to make the houses handicap-accessible. One home has four bedrooms, and the other has five, making them unusually valuable for large low-income families needing accessible housing. He said it is a valuable asset to the housing authority’s mission. 

Gollinger said one of the homes is vacant after the authority spent about a year evicting its former tenant, who left the property with significant damage, including broken windows and doors. The other home is occupied by a tenant. Gollinger said he is reluctant to spend an estimated $20,000 to $30,000 repairing the vacant property without knowing what will happen to it. 

“I don’t want to put the money into the house if we’re not going to be controlling it,” Gollinger said. 

Gollinger said a follow-up meeting with the department was being discussed for the following week, though scheduling conflicts will likely require rescheduling.