Boston, MA Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

1 seats an eleven-member interagency panel chaired by a Mayor's staffer, including the Police and Fire Commissioners, the Commissioner of Inspectional Services, the Commissioner of Public Health, the Chief Administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, the Chief of the Fair Housing Division, the Collector-Treasurer, the Director of Air Pollution Control and the Corporation Counsel. Each member must search their department's records for addresses with repeated complaints over the prior 12 months and forward them to the Chair, who compiles a master file per address; the Police Commissioner may not forward anything tied to an open criminal investigation.

Division (E) defines a "problem property" as any address with four or more police responses for offenses like disturbing the peace, trespassing or assault; four or more sustained noise complaints to the Air Pollution Control Commission; four or more ISD or Public Health complaints for noxious or unsanitary conditions; or four or more Fire Department complaints for dangerous conditions, in each case within the preceding 12 months, with the Chair making the final designation. Once flagged, the relevant Commissioner must consider expedited code enforcement, police action, injunctive relief through the Law Department, or fire-safety action as appropriate.

The Corporation Counsel must commence foreclosure proceedings against a designated problem property that also carries delinquent real estate taxes, and the Chair must issue a quarterly report to the Mayor and City Council on what each agency did about its problem properties.