Meet the Middleboro Housing Authority Candidate Sarah Person

MIDDLEBORO — Sarah Person is running for the Middleboro Housing Authority Commissioner seat to use her nonprofit leadership background to bolster the positive work she sees being done at the housing authority.

Person has heard housing authority residents speak highly of the services they receive, and aims to commit her years of nonprofit work to maintain services in Middleboro. She said Middleboro families with young children as well as senior residents are being priced out of town. 

“I just want to be part of helping folks to stay where they are and be safe and comfortable where they are — in Middleboro,” she said.

The Middleboro Housing Authority provides and maintains affordable rental units to people of low income, promotes home-ownership and overall aims to provide solutions to Middleboro housing needs.

The authority currently oversees 347 housing units across their housing locations including: Archer Court, Riverview and Nemasket Apartments, a special needs housing complex on Woodland Avenue and other rental assistance voucher programs.

Person has been involved in the nonprofit Middleboro Area Assistance Coalition since 2012. The coalition supports around 40 agencies, nonprofits and congregations who serve people in need of food, clothing, financial assistance, health care and more.

She moved to Middleboro in 2012, and retired from her work as a minister at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Middleboro in 2022.

She said her experience has “plugged” her into the needs of the Middleboro community, and is a guiding light to how she would operate if elected.

Person has also served on the Board of Governors of the Old Colony YMCA Middleboro Branch, and served about three years on the Middleboro Affordable Housing Committee. She holds a master’s of science in Library Science from Simmons College, and a Master of Divinity degree from Boston University.

She said although most of her work experience has been with congregations, her skills in communication, facilitating solutions to needs and knowing how to help people when they are in crisis are all transferable to the work of the housing authority.

During her time as a minister, she received facilitator training where she would travel and help other congregations plan for the future and make hard operational decisions. She said the work mostly entailed, “just helping leaders communicate with each other well.”

Person said she learned in her previous nonprofit experience that many people don’t know they are eligible for housing assistance.

“It would be great if we could find more available housing, and get the word out to get people the help that they need,” Person said.

In her previous nonprofit experience, she said she would often get the impression from her clients that when people are in crisis, it can be easy for them to fall into “tunnel vision.” 

She said the overwhelming sense of health or housing crises can cause people to not look for resources that can help.

“Once people are in a crisis, I understand how critical it is for them to be able to know or have easy access to the people and the resources that can help them,” Person said.

Person is running against Housing Authority Commissioner Incumbent Nancy Thomas.

Thomas could not be reached for an interview or attendance for the 2026 Middleboro Candidates Night after multiple attempts to contact.