Ann Arbor City Council Member Tony Derezinski wasn’t picking on the Housing Commission when he described it as “a mess.’’ An outside consultant’s report recently concluded the same, in not much more charitable terms.

The report found public housing units in Ann Arbor to be outdated and poorly maintained. It also concluded that the Housing Commission is underfunded, operates in a state of constant instability and fails to provide services urgently needed by tenants.

The Ann Arbor Housing Commission deserves credit for addressing its failings head-on. It took the first step when it sought such a brutally honest assessment. It took the second step earlier this month when it voted 3-2 to accept the report’s recommendations.

Those recommendations make eminent sense, but the vote was close, primarily because of concerns over the politically touchy suggestion that maintenance services be outsourced.

The outsourcing of work currently being done by public employees is a hot-button issue right now. The Housing Commission’s decision not to shrink away from such a tough decision suggests that it is serious about effecting real change.

It’s also an acknowledgement of the Housing Commission’s mission, which is not to provide public employment, but rather to provide desirable housing and necessary services to low-income families and individuals in Ann Arbor. In this case, the outsourcing of maintenance work could better serve public housing tenants in two ways.

The first would be by providing tenants with a more tenable living environment. The report not only found public housing facilities to be substandard and outdated, which will take years to address, but also that the units have been poorly maintained and that it takes far too long to get empty units ready for new tenants to move in. That can and should be addressed now.

Outsourcing also could better serve the low-income people who live in public housing if it is done - as the report suggests - in way that is keyed to job training and supportive employment programs.

One important finding in the report, done by the consulting firm Schumaker & Co. of Ann Arbor, is that the Housing Commission has done a poor job of providing support services to tenants, and that it has failed to partner with organizations that could help deliver those services.

In some cases, that could mean helping veterans connect with services offered by the U.S. Veterans Administration. In other cases, it could mean helping tenants with disabilities learn of resources that are available to them in the community.

However, one of the goals of public housing should be to help tenants move toward economic self-sufficiency and the ability to afford permanent housing. If the Housing Commission were able to find a partner with a similar mission that could handle maintenance on a contractual basis, and incorporate job-training into the program, that would be a good outcome.

Understanding that the loss of unionized public jobs will raise concerns, the report suggests a transition that makes the change as palatable as possible. It recommends starting with a “pilot project’’ that would replace two temporary employees. Other current employees would be absorbed into other positions with the city as other jobs became available.

A decision to outsource work should never be made lightly. But it’s the kind of tough choice that many employers, both public and private, are being forced to make as they struggle to contain costs and stay focused on their core mission. This isn’t an indictment of existing maintenance workers, but rather a recognition that the current structure can’t produce the necessary results.

The consultant’s report helps take a little of the heat off the Housing Commission. It’s an objective analysis that calls for dramatic changes, including a new management structure, better oversight and planning, a closer relationship with the city and a much-needed emphasis on finding new sources of money to offset inadequate funding from the federal government.

The Housing Commission has been given a comprehensive, well-conceived plan. Having accepted that plan, it needs to maintain the fortitude necessary to put these recommendations in place and make public housing in Ann Arbor a model instead of a morass. The poorest of our residents have been poorly served long enough; the Housing Commission seems as committed as anyone to changing that.