It's up to the local government to see if you qualify — although my guess is that's based on your previous income and other factors (like if you're a citizen or have a family). Even if you qualify there may be a waiting list — and my bet is that you couldn't really count on the quality:

http://www.massresources.org/public-housing.html

I once had a friend who was a blogger who lived in the projects here in NYC and the quality of housing was pretty terrible...