Massachusetts housing officials are facing new questions about how taxpayer-funded rental assistance is being approved after an NBC10 Boston investigation found that a tenant with a long history of evictions received public help while an elderly homeowner said she was left frightened, unpaid and trapped in her own house.
In a report for NBC10 Boston, investigative reporter Ryan Kath said the case centers on Jeanette Jackson, a 76-year-old Dorchester homeowner who lives upstairs from the first-floor unit she rented to Kenyatta Saunders.
Jackson described Saunders as a “tenant from hell,” saying the tenant did not pay rent, damaged the home, complained to city inspectors about the property, then allegedly refused to allow repair workers inside to address the problems…