HPRE Advocates 'Market Increase' For University-Owned Housing

Residents of the 2,300 Harvard affiliated apartments surrounding campus may see an increase in their rent this summer.

Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE) yesterday proposed an overall market increase of 4.2 percent for all Harvard-affiliated residents of HPRE proprieties.

The increase has already been reviewed by the University's Faculty Advisory Committee on Affiliated Housing and will go through a period of public comment before taking effect on July 1, 1998.

According to G. Robin Naroian, HPRE's marketing and leasing manager for affiliated housing, yearly rent increases are based on a market study done each year, the climate of Cambridge's housing market and trends indicated by the Rental Housing Association, an industry group located in Boston.

Although the increase, when finalized, will impact all Harvard affiliates living in HPRE housing, yesterday's announcement will not affect rent for non-Harvard affiliates living in HPRE housing.

"We are in the process now of determining exactly what those increases are," said Susan Keller, the University's director of residential real estate. "We will be notifying people in March what increases [for non-Harvard affiliates] will be."

According to Keller, non-affiliate housing is broken down into two groups: protected low-income tenants (those who earn under 60 percent of the median income) and unprotected tenants.

For unprotected tenants, rent will be brought up to market rates "over a period of time," Keller said. Tenants forced out by the increases will be replaced with members of the Harvard community.

"Upon turnover, we re-rent to affiliates," Keller said.

Most low-income tenants, however, will not be forced out.

"We made a commitment to the protected people for as long they are with us," Keller said.

Last year Harvard sold 100 units of formerly rent-controlled housing to Homeowner's Rehab, a non-profit group dedicated to preserving low-income housing in the City of Cambridge.

Both University administrators and city officials hailed the move as a milestone for town-gown relations because it provided a boost to the city's flagging level of low-income housing.

A complete list of rent increase for Harvard affiliates in HPRE housing was published in the Jan. 29 issue of the Harvard Gazette.