Waitlist for subsidized housing in Massachusetts is yearslong despite ample amount of vacant units [Video]

Deb Libby is running out of time to find a place to live.

Libby, 56, moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, four years ago, in part to be closer to the doctors treating her for pancreatic cancer.

But the landlord wants her out by the end of the month and she can’t find anything else she can afford. She earns only a little more than minimum wage at a hardware store and often has to take unpaid time off because of health problems.

Libby thought she found a potential solution nearly a year ago: She applied for state public housing, a type of subsidized housing that’s almost unique to Massachusetts. But she’s heard nothing since.

“It’s frightening,” she said. “I seriously don’t know what to do. It’s like the system’s broken.”

HOW PROGRESSIVES’ GRAND PLANS FOR SUBSIDIZED HOUSING HAVE HARMED AFRICAN AMERICANS

In Massachusetts, which has some of the country’s most expensive real estate, Libby is among the 184,000 …