Grim Prospects Ahead as Rent Protections End

Nearly two years after a state-wide referendum abolished rent control in Massachusetts cities, including Cambridge, the government's protective provisions have finally reached their end.

Roughly 1,500 of the city's low-income households were granted a 24-month long rent control extension in 1994.

But on Tuesday this "protected status" expired, leaving future prospects for residents like Gretna J. Bohn-Hayden rather grim.

Bohn-Hayden, who is disabled and was once homeless, fears that a rent increase will leave her no choice but to live out of her car again.

"I received an offer from the landlord that would terminate in August and it was more than what my supplemental income could cover," Bohn-Hayden said. "I know that I can survive [homelessness], not that it's easy, but I worry about a lot of other people, especially the elderly."

Grass-roots tenants unions, like the Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes, are attempting to conduct negotiations with landlords to avoid immediate or drastic rent increases.

"Some landlords aren't responding at all," said Julie Geanakakis, a steering committee member of the Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes. "There is no willingness to negotiate or put anything in writing."

With the threat of possible eviction looming large, many tenants have already begun moving out of their apartments.

"Driving around Cambridge last night, I saw an awful lot of moving vans," Bohn-Hayden said.

In Boston, 11 tenants who stand to pay rent increases ranging from 45 to 91 percent or face eviction took their case before a judge yesterday.

The judge did not rule in the case, but ordered the tenants and the landlord to negotiate a settlement by next week.

The judge, however, criticized the rent hike.

"You can't just make that Herculean jump," Boston Housing Court Judge E. George Daher told The Associated Press. "Can't you have some sort of gradation, a slow increase of rents?"

As the largest rent control landlord in Cambridge, Harvard housing officials said they are doing their part to alleviate the city's housing crisis.

Last April, Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE) initiated its own protective extension for 78 of its 700 affiliates.

"The 78 long term protected tenants will be protected in the future," said Susan K. Keller, director of residential real estate at HPRE.

Keller also said Harvard is currently negotiating a sale of 100 units of affordable housing to the city.

HPRE's initiatives have set a standard that other tenants are trying to replicate throughout Cambridge, tenant-union leaders said.

"We have asked the city council, in following what Harvard did, to implement a transfer tax which goes into an affordable housing trust fund," Geanakakis said.

In the city council's next meeting on Monday, members of the Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes said they plan to "expose to the public" the financial status of a number of large property owners, according to Washington Taylor, a local architect and private homeowner in Cambridge involved with the campaign.

"The profits of large owners have increased greatly since the end of rent control," said Bill Marcott, a campaign spokesperson in a recent press release. "They should not evict long term residents to make even more."

The group will also ask for moderate increases in rent, renewal of all "section 8" contracts and the sale of some buildings at prices reflecting those before rent control, according to a campaign press release.

If efforts at settling the crisis are unsuccessful, tenants will take stronger actions, Taylor said.

"Since the protected status umbrella ended on the 31st, there are tenants who will refuse to be evicted," he said. "For them and others, we are going to be involved in getting legal services set up."

Even if rent increases occur over time, the growth in relocation statistics are inevitable, Taylor said.

"The single issue is: Are salaries increasing to the extent that housing costs are rising?," Geanakakis said. "A lot of people aren't going to be able to sustain the increases their getting."

"Tenants are organizing and meeting to determine what to do when they get their notices of rent control," she said. "I, for one, have pledged to stay."

--Material from wire dispatches were used in compiling this story.

"We have asked the city council, in following what Harvard did, to implement a transfer tax which goes into an affordable housing trust fund," Geanakakis said.

In the city council's next meeting on Monday, members of the Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes said they plan to "expose to the public" the financial status of a number of large property owners, according to Washington Taylor, a local architect and private homeowner in Cambridge involved with the campaign.

"The profits of large owners have increased greatly since the end of rent control," said Bill Marcott, a campaign spokesperson in a recent press release. "They should not evict long term residents to make even more."

The group will also ask for moderate increases in rent, renewal of all "section 8" contracts and the sale of some buildings at prices reflecting those before rent control, according to a campaign press release.

If efforts at settling the crisis are unsuccessful, tenants will take stronger actions, Taylor said.

"Since the protected status umbrella ended on the 31st, there are tenants who will refuse to be evicted," he said. "For them and others, we are going to be involved in getting legal services set up."

Even if rent increases occur over time, the growth in relocation statistics are inevitable, Taylor said.

"The single issue is: Are salaries increasing to the extent that housing costs are rising?," Geanakakis said. "A lot of people aren't going to be able to sustain the increases their getting."

"Tenants are organizing and meeting to determine what to do when they get their notices of rent control," she said. "I, for one, have pledged to stay."

--Material from wire dispatches were used in compiling this story.