Paying for the Convention

Use Your Tenant Organization Funds

With your community, be sure to budget a portion of your tenant participation funds for the convention and Public Housing Day. Remember to also budget for transportation, such as an Uber or mileage reimbursement. You can send board members or other tenants – it’s your call. Just be sure to use a fair and transparent process for deciding which tenants will attend.

Ask Your Housing Authority to Sponsor

Over thirty Housing Authorities have directly paid to send tenants to our events. Ask yours to join this growing list! They will be recognized in our materials and on signage at the event. Read about sponsorship tiers here. The higher the sponsorship, the greater the recognition. Give your LHA the chance to earn this great publicity and be seen in front of our community and important policy-makers!

Look for Community Sponsors

Any organization can sponsor the convention, not just Housing Authorities. You can ask a local bank or shop for a sponsorship or sell them an ad for the program book. Any funds you raise will cover your registration costs, and the sponsor will get all the publicity benefits.

Mass Union Board of Directors Election – Fall 2025

In keeping with our bylaws, Mass Union is holding a director election at our 2025 Convention. The election will be held on Sunday, October 5 as part of our Annual Meeting. The Meeting will run from 10am-12pm.

In odd-numbered years we hold director elections and in even-numbered years, we hold officer elections. The officers are the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer. All other members of the board are considered “directors.” This election will be for them. Here is the quote from our bylaws:

“At the Annual Meeting held in odd-numbered years, the affiliates shall elect between four (4) and eight (8) directors, depending upon the number of qualifying nominations received. If fewer than eight (8) qualifying nominations are received, the President shall present a smaller slate, provided that the number of nominees shall be at least four (4).”

Members of our affiliates may run for the director seats. You do not need to be an LTO board member to run. Any tenant in an LTO that is a member of Mass Union may run. Please see additional information about eligibility on page 5 of our bylaws.

Nominations are due on September 15, 2025.  The Election is being overseen by an impartial Election Committee made up of people who are not running for a seat.

How to Run

You may nominate yourself or another eligible member of one of our affiliates. If you nominate someone else, we will confirm that they would like to run before circulating their nomination. Submit the nominee’s name, contact information, and the name of her/his/their affiliate (LTO) to info@massunion.org by 5pm on September 15, 2025. Please also send a photo and brief statement (not to exceed one half page) about the candidate.

Fall 2025 Convention Election Rules and Procedure

As adopted by the Election Committee, July 22, 2025

BYLAWS

ARTICLE V: ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MASS UNION

Section 6: Voting and Participation: Each affiliate shall be entitled to one (1) vote. A majority vote of the affiliates that constitutes a quorum[1] as defined in these By-Laws shall be the required vote unless otherwise specifically stated herein.

A simple majority of votes cast shall be necessary to conduct all regular business of the Mass Union, to adopt the By-Laws and to elect members of the Board.

ARTICLE VI: THE BOARD

Section 6: Elections: Paragraph 2: At the Annual Meeting held in odd-numbered years, the affiliates shall elect between four (4) and eight (8) directors, depending upon the number of qualifying nominations received. If fewer than eight (8) qualifying nominations are received, the President shall present a smaller slate, provided that the number of nominees shall be at least four (4). The candidates receiving the highest number of votes, up to the number of directors to be elected as determined by the Board, shall be elected. If there are eight (8) or more nominees, and there is a tie between the eighth and ninth-placed candidates, there shall be a run-off between those two candidates. At the Annual Meeting held in even-numbered years, affiliates shall elect five (5) officers from current Board members in accordance with Article VII, Section 1. Any additional election procedures shall be adopted by the Board before the Nomination period begins. Once the affiliates are notified of the Nomination period, no changes may be made to the procedures.

ADDITIONAL RULES

In addition to the rules listed above in our bylaws, the Committee has created the following two rules for this election. Please note that because we sent nominations to the affiliates in advance of the Convention, we will not be able to take nominations from the floor of the Convention.

    1. You must be present at the Convention to run.

If extenuating circumstances arise and a candidate can no longer attend, the candidate can alert a board or staff member at Mass Union. Their circumstances will be explained to the affiliates for a vote, and the affiliates will decide whether to allow the candidate to run.

    1. Candidates may distribute materials at the Convention, with three caveats:

1. No negative statements are allowed about the other candidates.
2. No promotion of business interests.
3. Endorsements from present or former Mass Union staff are not allowed.

ELECTION PROCEDURE

    1. Review of Election Procedure

The President or his designee will name and thank the Election Committee members and review the procedure below.

2. Director Election

A. CANDIDATE SPEECHES

The candidates will each be invited to sit at the front of the room, and each will be invited to make a two-minute speech.

B. VOTING

This year Mass Union received seven nominees for the eight available seats on our board. Please see information about the nominees here.

Because the number of seats exceeds the number of nominees, affiliates will vote for the entire slate at once. Further details will be announced at the election on October 5.

Thank you to the nominees!

[1] A quorum is one-third of the affiliates.

Thank You to our Convention Sponsors!

Presenting Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Transportation Sponsors

Gold Sponsor

Silver SponsorsHonorable Mentions

Bridgewater Housing Authority
Chelmsford Housing Authority
Malden Housing Authority
Northampton Housing Authority
Needham Housing Authority
Salem Housing Authority
Springfield Housing Authority
Watertown Housing Authority

Sponsor the Fall 2025 Convention

October 2-5, 2025
Marlborough, MA

Sponsorship is your opportunity to reach and support diverse, low-income tenant leaders. Join with other corporations, institutions, and allies who stand for dignified public housing, which provides a home for thousands of Massachusetts’ most vulnerable seniors, families, immigrants, veterans and persons with disabilities. Mass Union’s tenant leaders have successfully advocated for the preservation and improvement of public housing in our state for over fifty years.

We invite you to join Chase Bank, MassSave, Eastern Bank, The Boston Foundation, over thirty-five Housing Authorities and many others who have supported Mass Union with a sponsorship for the Fall 2025 Conference.

Special thanks to the LHAs who have contributed to past Mass Union events! The list includes the Acton, Arlington, Attleboro, Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Charlton, Chelmsford, Fall River, Gloucester, Great Barrington, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lenox, Lynn, Malden, Marlborough, Melrose, Needham, Northampton, Plainville, Quincy, Reading, Salem, Seekonk, Sharon, Somerville, Southwick, Springfield, Sudbury, Swampscott, Taunton, Topsfield, Wakefield, Watertown, Webster, West Springfield, and Worcester Housing Authorities.

All sponsoring Housing Authorities will be recognized, regardless of the level of sponsorship. See more below.

SPONSORSHIP TIERS

PRESENTING SPONSOR – $10,000.00

• Keynote Speaker invitation
• Mass Union representative to present a lunch and learn at your location
• Deliver your message in a dedicated email to 700+ residents on our statewide mailing list
• Conference vendor table and four lunches
• Full-page Program Book ad on back cover or inside front cover
• Prominent logo on event signage and swag
• Prominent logo on Mass Union website, event emails and social media

PLATINUM SPONSOR – $5,000.00

• Luncheon Speaker invitation
• Conference vendor table and three lunches
• Full-page Program Book ad
• Prominent logo on event signage and swag
• Prominent logo on Mass Union website, event emails, and social media

GOLD SPONSOR – $2,500.00

• Conference vendor table and two lunches
• Full-page Program Book Ad
• Logo on event signage and swag
• Logo on Mass Union website, event emails, and social media

SILVER SPONSOR – $1,000.00

• Conference vendor table and two lunches
• Half-page Program Book ad
• Logo on event signage and swag
• Logo on Mass Union website, event emails, and social media

CONFERENCE VENDOR TABLES – $500.00

• Conference vendor table and one lunch
• Listing in Program Book

PROGRAM BOOK ADS

• Full-page: $125
• Half-page: $80
• Quarter-page: $50

HOUSING AUTHORITY SPONSORSHIP – All Levels

All Housing Authority sponsors will be recognized, regardless of the level of sponsorship. Your name will appear on event signage, in our Program Book, and our website and social media.

To Sponsor, contact Sarah Byrnes at sarah@massunion.org or 617.326.6088.

We got a Cummings Grant!

Mass Union is thrilled to receive a grant from the Cummings Foundation!

Huge thanks to the Cummings Foundation for their support of public housing tenants in Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties as well as in Brookline, Wellesley and Quincy!

Mass Union’s Policy Priorities for Public Housing Day 5.7.25

The Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants respectfully requests our Senators’ support for the following so that we, tenants in public housing, may live with the dignity we deserve.

    • Increase the Public Housing Operating Subsidy, Line Item 7004-9005.

 ASK: $153 million

 Cosponsor and support any amendment that increases this line item. Tenants in state-aided public housing live with mold, rats, bedbugs, broken elevators, sewage problems and more. Massachusetts can and MUST do better. We don’t deserve to live this way. Your help is crucial.

    • Provide more funding for the Access to Counsel Program, Line-item 0321-1800.

 ASK: $5 million

 Cosponsor and support any amendment that increases this line item. Public housing tenants facing eviction need your support. Sometimes, we face eviction because our rent was miscalculated, or we are trying to improve the conditions in our community. Your support for Access to Counsel will provide full representation for those of us who need it most.

    • Support Tenant Voice in Redevelopment.

 ASK: $350,000

 Mass Union is very grateful that the Affordable Homes Act provides protections for tenants undergoing redevelopment with private partners, including requiring that tenants be provided with Technical Assistance to help us navigate complicated deals. These protections are crucial. We are working to find funding sources for Technical Assistance for tenants so we may provide meaningful input into this process. Please stay tuned.

Mass Union Signs Letter to Stop Elon Musk and DOGE from Gutting HUD

As we know, HUD is the federal agency dedicated to addressing our most pressing housing, community development and homelessness challenges and serves millions of renters, homeowners, and people experiencing homelessness.

Attempts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to terminate at least half of all HUD employees, if successful, would be DISASTROUS for our communities.

Mass Union has signed a national letter to stop this. Read the full letter here, which will be finalized on March 11, 2025.