Boston Housing Office Faces 9.6 Percent Budget Cut in FY27 Proposal

BOSTON -- April 27, 2026, Boston's Mayor's Office of Housing faces a $5 million, 9.6 percent budget cut in the proposed FY27 spending plan. The Committee on Ways and Means held a budget hearing Monday where Chief of Housing Sheila Dillon and Director of Administration and Finance Rick Wilson presented a $49.2 million operating budget, down from roughly $54.2 million in FY26. The largest single reduction is $2.3 million from the City of Boston voucher program, though BHA Deputy Administrator Joel Wool said the roughly 500 vouchers currently in use will be maintained using prior-year funds. Other reductions include $1 million to eliminate the Affordable Commercial Assistance Fund, $450,000 to cut the Access to Counsel pilot for families with school-age children facing eviction, and more than $430,000 from Grow Boston grant programs, a cut of more than 50 percent, prompting sharp public testimony from urban agriculture advocates who called the reduction "short-sighted." Wilson noted that $237 million in ARPA funding is 80 percent spent and on track to be fully obligated by year-end, while warning that HUD has signaled it intends to restructure the $48 million Continuum of Care grants that fund most of the city's homelessness programs in the following fiscal year.