Mac McCreight

James M. (“Mac”) McCreight worked in legal services programs in Connecticut and Massachusetts for over 40 years prior to his retirement in February, 2022. He is a 1975 graduate of Haverford College and spent several years as a VISTA adult educator in Philadelphia and then a community organizer in North Carolina prior to attending Northeastern School of Law, where he graduated in 1981.

Mac was a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance in 1981-1982, and then at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) from mid-1982 until his retirement. He was initially in the Community Services Unit (in the Grove Hall office), in the Housing Unit (where he was the Managing Attorney from 1986 to 1992), in the Homelessness Unit, and then back in the Housing Unit when it merged with the Homelessness Unit in the late 1990’s, moving to a senior attorney and then to a lead attorney position. 

Mac has had extensive experience in the Housing Court and has been co-author and facilitator for several MCLE publications and forums relating to landlord-tenant law and the Housing Court. He has been a trainer and editor of materials for both the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP), particularly on issues of public and subsidized housing. He was counsel for the Perez class during the later phase of the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) receivership (1985-1990), and has remained active in working with BHA public housing and Section 8 resident groups over the years on issues of public housing and Section 8 policy.

As an Access to Justice Fellow, Mac will continue to volunteer with Greater Boston Legal Services, providing continued support for the work of the BHA Resident Advisory Board and for the BHA’s Mixed Finance Residents Group as they work on BHA policy issues, and particularly the complexities involved with public housing redevelopment and moving to new forms of ownership and subsidy while retaining key resident protections.

Mac will also collaborate with GBLS staff on community education related to the upcoming BHA redevelopment process; participate in the Steering Committee for Justice 4 Housing as they seek to influence housing providers to incorporate best practices to help justice-involved individuals and families secure affordable housing; provide case review and other support for GBLS Housing Unit staff on an as-needed basis; and provide feedback to GBLS generally as new intake protocols are adopted and as existing supervision/evaluation protocols are tweaked.