Cambridge Tenants to Protest Rent Hikes at Public Meeting

The Cambridge Tenant Organizing Committee (CTOC) will discuss strategies for an organized tenant protest against the 3.1 per cent rent increase approved by the Cambridge Rent Control Board last month, at a public meeting January 26.

Bill J. Leary, office manager of the CTOC, said yesterday that several plans of action will be proposed at the meeting, including a general tenants' rent strike or a refusal to pay the increase.

The new rent board regulations allow landlords to pass on higher costs in fuel prices and higher tax rates to the tenant and will result in a rent hike of about $18 a month for more than 70 per cent of Cambridge's tenants.

Leary said the CTOC opposes the rent increase because it places the burden of inflation on the tenants and not on the landlords.

He said that the "profit inflator" clause negates the effect of inflation for the landlord, and forces the tenant to pay the difference.

The regulations stipulate that landlords can maintain the same profit margin they had two years ago.

Kenneth F. Griffin, a member of the Rent Control Board, said yesterday that the landlords have been paying the increased fuel costs for more than a year, and that the rent increase is designed to take some of the burden off the landlord.

He said it is the tenants' responsibility to help pay for the increased operating costs.

Griffin also said he feels that the tenants will not be disturbed when they see "what the increase means in dollars and cents."

Leary said yesterday that the goal of the public meeting is to organize tenants so that they can present a "unified front" against the landlords.

He said tenants will be organized in units according to their landlords or by location in Cambridge and that the CTOC will hold workshops for these units after the planning meeting.