The head of the Cambridge Housing Authority is pushing back against allegations of poor conditions and unfair evictions made by a group of tenants at two large family developments. But executive director Michael Johnston also said the authority will strengthen its response to mouse infestation at Washington Elms and Newtowne Court after listening to tenants at two public meetings that CHA called to hear from residents after the tenant group interrupted a board meeting June 12 with a petition demanding changes.
“It was clear from recent discussions that mice are a concern for many residents,” Johnston said in an email. “We plan to reexamine our practices, become more aggressive with our vendor approach and implement a resident education campaign, as resident actions are vital to extermination success.”
Though many at the first resident meeting on July 9 voiced frustration with the authority, some residents castigated those who made the complaints. One woman said tenants asserting they had mice in their apartments should clean their homes better. Another woman criticized the protesters for not working with the tenant council for the two developments.
Johnston, in his email, said the authority “is always available to respond to requests for services from our residents,” though several at the meeting recounted instances when a promised exterminator didn’t show up and when maintenance staff didn’t answer emails or phone messages.
“You could conclude by the tone of the meeting, that while some wanted to vent their concerns with issues in their units, most folks at the meeting were happy with the site staff’s responsiveness and willingness to address any concerns brought to their attention,” Johnston said. “We certainly recognize that we don’t get things right 100 percent of the time. However, CHA is steadfast in its long-standing commitment to produce, support and sustain safe, innovative affordable housing options.”
Mice and roaches
Problems with mice produced some of the most emotional stories from tenants. One young woman told of her fear of going into any room in her apartment, including the bathroom, because she dreaded seeing or hearing a rodent. “I hear the mice every day,” she said. “I think every day of how I can’t make my house a home.”
Another woman said the exterminator who answered her call was an “old white man” who couldn’t bend down to close up holes allowing mice to get in. “He said he would send someone else,” she said. “No one ever came.” Another tenant said a worker handed her some steel wool to close the cracks and holes; “that’s not my job.” A man said a worker put a mousetrap in his apartment but not in the one next door.
“We’ve had mice and roaches off and on for years,” another resident said.
Mold was another problem that residents said was sometimes not addressed. One woman, holding a child, said she was blamed for the mold in her apartment that worsened her child’s asthma.
Eviction notices
As for evictions, residents spoke of getting repeated “five-day notices” warning of possible evictions when rent payments were barely late. “I hate five-day notices,” Johnston agreed. He said the authority had proposed eliminating them, only to have the Alliance of Cambridge Tenants and its lawyer at Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services oppose the move, “so we backed away,” Johnston said.
A member of the tenant alliance at the meeting, Bill Cunningham, said the organization wanted to continue the notices so tenants would know when they owed rent, but ACT also wanted the eviction threats to be eliminated. Johnston told tenants in the audience it would be fine to throw away the notices when they got them.
Johnston also told tenants that the authority evicted very few people even when it won the right to oust residents from their homes in court. He also said the “minor paperwork” that the petition said was the basis for some eviction threats was very important: It’s required for the subsidies that support the developments and keep tenants’ rent low, he said.
Johnston invited residents at the end of both tenant meetings to report specific problems to staff members who attended. He reported to CHA commissioners at their board meeting Wednesday, the day after the first resident meeting, that 31 tenants responded, resulting in 68 work orders. Fourteen of the work orders were for pest control, he said.
A few days to respond
Johnston also presented work order statistics for dating back to the start of 2022 for Washington Elms and Newtowne Court, for only the 78 households involved in the resident petition. The agency changed its work order system last year, though, making it difficult to compare 2022 figures to the next two years.
The numbers show that the average time to complete work orders for the 78 households was four days in 2023 at both developments, and six days at Washington Elms and five days at Newtowne Court this year so far.
Cambridge Day asked CHA for the maximum times to complete work orders. In response, the authority’s deputy executive director, Brenda Downing, broke down the orders into categories such as appliances, pest control and plumbing. The figures showed that electrical problems accounted for the longest maximum completion time: 71 days. Trash problems were corrected immediately. The longest time to complete a pest control work order was 14 days. “Miscellaneous” was the category for 181 work orders; the maximum completion time was 61 days.
Downing added “context,” saying that the average time to complete a work order was “typically one to three days.”
It wasn’t clear what period Downing’s figures covered and whether they were for all residents at both developments.
Letting tenants talk
Johnston put his report on the response to the tenant petition on the agenda of the Wednesday authority board meeting, which allowed tenants and anyone else to give public comment on the issue; CHA permits public comment only on matters included in the meeting agenda. At the June 12 board meeting when residents presented their petition, the issue was not on the agenda and residents spoke despite efforts to prevent them from commenting.
Johnston said he intends to make the issue a continuing part of the agenda so residents can comment at future board meetings. He told tenants at the July 9 public meeting that they would be able to speak to the board the next evening. Some showed up but none applied to comment.
Tenants at other affordable housing developments have complained about poor conditions. In January 2022, then mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and vice mayor Alanna Mallon wrote a letter to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust urging the trust not to help finance an expansion of Walden Square Apartments because of “egregious” pest issues and mistreatment of residents. Siddiqui now supports the project, saying owner WinnManagement has improved maintenance and responsiveness to tenants.
Trudi Goodman, a tenant leader at Inman Square Apartments, has said nonprofit affordable housing developer Homeowners Rehab Inc. has neglected the building, endangering tenants. Last November the City Council condemned HRI in a vote organized by now-mayor E. Denise Simmons after Goodman reported there was no heat in the building. HRI executive director Sara Barcan has denied the building is in dangerous condition but said it does need an expensive upgrade. Barcan says it’s difficult to raise the money for such redevelopment because of high construction costs and competition for limited government money.
Siddiqui and councillor Ayesha Wilson attended the authority’s July 9 meeting with tenants at Washington Elms and Newtowne Court. The authority’s deputy executive director, Downing, said they both “pledged continuing support with any upcoming resident meetings.”
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