The legendary journalist H.L. Mencken once said, “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” If Mencken were alive and writing today, he could easily use that logic to describe the tactics used by Fall River city officials in their misguided attempt to demolish 100 state-aided public housing apartments for families at Watuppa Heights.

The state Department of Housing and Community Development fully recognizes that, under Mayor Lambert’s leadership, the city of Fall River is working very hard to face some legitimate and complicated challenges. However, targeting the low-rise, low-density apartments of Watuppa, which have served families for over 50 years, as a scapegoat and symbol of the city’s ills is not right.

In fact, one could argue that Watuppa is probably the least of Fall River’s housing problems. The city needs to continue improving its economic vitality by helping to stabilize the privately owned multi-family homes in a number of its neighborhoods, and it needs to improve its public housing properties that were neglected through the years due to past housing authority mismanagement.

Contrary to the mayor’s argument, DHCD is not an antagonist to Fall River. DHCD has been–and will continue to be–a partner with the city to promote safe, decent, and affordable housing and improved community development.

Since the mayor took office in January 1996, this agency has worked diligently with him and his city on all fronts, pumping in more than $46 million in resources. For example, almost a quarter of a million dollars in state demolition funds has been awarded to the city to remove dangerously blighted buildings so that dilapidated properties and neighborhoods can be redeveloped. Low-income housing tax credits leveraging close to $14 million in private investment have also been awarded to create and preserve hundreds of homes. By adding to that the millions of dollars in DHCD grants awarded for fuel assistance, job training, youth and nutrition programs, private housing development financing, infrastructure improvements, and public-housing modernization funds, one should conclude that the agency and the city are allies, not adversaries.

Four years ago, the city and its state legislative delegation strongly advocated for $12.7 million to redevelop Watuppa Heights and 131 apartments at the Pleasant View development. DHCD agreed and awarded the funds. Unfortunately, using Lowell’s Julian Steele public housing demolition as a precedent, the city has since refused those funds and attempted to gain legislative approval, through a rigid home rule petition, to tear down Watuppa and replace it with 26 single-family homes. To date, those efforts have been unsuccessful and have garnered precious little support at the State House.

Although we believe that circumstances of Lowell’s Julian Steele development and Watuppa Heights are different on a number of levels, we nonetheless have attempted to work in good faith with the city of Fall River and the housing authority to resolve this matter. Our first preference was, of course, for the city to accept the $12.7 million from the state to renovate the two properties, but we also thought that an acceptable compromise for all parties could be achieved based on the city’s preferred approach. Unfortunately, agreement could not be reached on replacement of apartments and long-term affordability terms. Negotiations ceased when the city opted instead to take its chances with the Legislature for approval of its non-amendable home rule petition.

In the mayor’s argument, he uses variations of the word “failure” numerous times to describe state housing policy. He even describes it as being “completely out of control.” Nothing could further from the truth.

The state’s track record for spurring affordable housing development, especially in the last decade, is second to none. This is due in part to the ongoing support we receive from the governor, and the working relationship DHCD has with quasi-public state agencies like MassHousing, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund, MassDevelopment, and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., to leverage private funds for housing development. The end result means more quality housing in Massachusetts for fewer direct taxpayer dollars.

Also, Massachusetts is one of just three states in the country that offers state-aided public housing (New York and Hawaii are the others). We are very proud of our portfolio of 50,000 permanently affordable public housing apartments, and we want to continue investing in their upgrade. Public housing serves as an important rung of the housing ladder for low-income families and individuals. This was certainly true more than a half-century ago, when this housing was created for returning World War II veterans and their families, and it is true even more so today.

To buttress his argument for Watuppa’s demise, the mayor refers to the federal government’s Hope VI program as a responsible model for reducing public housing density. He says that the “state should take a page from the federal handbook” and look at how Boston used that program to rebuild and reduce its Orchard Park and Mission Main public housing complexes.

However, there are significant differences between those two housing developments and Watuppa. The density of each of those Boston developments is still more than twice that of Watuppa. Even after redevelopment through Hope VI, Mission Main houses 24 units per acre while Orchard Park houses 23 units per acre. Watuppa currently has 11 units per acre. Also, 80 percent of the newly constructed mixed-income units in those Boston develop-ments were set aside for public housing residents.

It is understandable that Mayor Lambert’s concerns lie solely with the plight of his city, but it is the responsibility and duty of this agency to serve the housing and community development needs of not only Fall River, but also the other 350 cities and towns that collectively make up our Commonwealth The mayor is certainly entitled to his opinion. However, as far as I’m concerned, the Department of Housing and Community Development is definitely not part of the problem in Fall River, but has been, and will continue to be, part of the solution.

Jane Wallis Gumble is director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development.