Sticks, Stones, Gossip & Governance Part 1 of 2
In some housing authorities, the governance system is in turmoil. How can we remedy the breakdown in trust that affects everyone: tenants, the board, the executive director, the staff, and even the public? Can we find a way to create a more collaborative, transparent community and to value constructive input from everyone? This is Part 1; See Part 2
Do children still chant, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, names can never hurt me?” Alas, words can cause severe harm and break the spirit. When a social group targets someone as a threat, and the members bully and gang up on the target using malicious gossip, it becomes mobbing.
"[Mobbing] affects our sense of belonging, our self-esteem or sense of self worth, our sense of control over our lives, and our sense of having a meaningful existence."—Janice Harper, PhD
Mobbing has been shown by Janice Harper and by the research and reports of the Massachusetts Commission on Bullying to harm not only the targets but also to infect the whole community. When that happens in public or subsidized housing, the target and many others lose the peaceful enjoyment of their home and it becomes ruled by mobbing and harassment.
When hostile environment harassment —unwelcome conduct creating a situation that makes it difficult or impossible for victims to have the peaceful enjoyment of their residency—pervades a public or subsidized housing development, tenants lose their rights, live in fear, and the community is unable to come together for positive outcomes.
Hostile environment harassment is a symptom of the breakdown and failure of governance. The Office of the Attorney General has affirmed that the housing provider is legally responsible for assuring the rights of tenants including the right of peaceful enjoyment. In public housing, the housing provider consists of the board of commissioners; in subsidized housing, it is the landlord.
Commissioners govern
Each local housing authority in a town is governed by a five-member board of commissioners, including one member appointed by the Governor, three members elected by the Town, and since 2021, one “tenant board member” appointed by the Town from among a list of candidates representing tenants of the housing authority.
In a city, one of the commissioners is appointed by the Governor and four of the members are appointed by the city, including one who is a tenant of the housing authority.
For the tenant who serves as a commissioner, it is an opportunity to see to the proper administration of the housing authority, but it can be a painful experience.The board of commissioners are the legal provider of housing, and they select the executive director and oversee their work. However, executive directors tend to be controlling and often tell the board what they can or cannot do and resist efforts of the board to assert control.
One tenant commissioner described the experience as a form of “soul murder.” It is a situation with a severe power imbalance. Society considers tenants in subsidized or public housing to be of relatively low prestige—tenants are poor, disabled, and some are members of often-disrespected groups. A survey of the history of public housing by Lawrence J. Vale, From the Puritans to the Projects details the complexity and ambiguity of the changing tensions between the social good and the private good. Society can’t decide if public housing is a deserved benefit for the hardworking, or a place to punish, reform, or help the tenant.
As a result, the tenant commissioner is often at a severe disadvantage, especially if they in any way challenge the dominance of the executive director and support the rights of tenants.
Tenant commissioner in Salem
In Salem Public Housing, the Chair of the Board of Commissioners, Veronica Miranda, is a single mother and a member of the Salem School Board as well as a tenant in Salem Public Housing. Following agreed procedures, tenants and the public were recognized early in each monthly board meeting and in accordance with the Open Meeting Law,, permitted to have their say without any constraint.
Hostile work environment
Chair Miranda was accused by staff of creating a “hostile work environment.” They asserted that they didn’t like the board meetings because they were too long and that they didn’t have a chance to defend themselves from complaints by tenants. Staff claimed that the chair was harming the positive community spirit by her actions and by enabling tenants to be unfairly critical of the work of the staff. In a contentious meeting of the Salem Housing Authority board staff members voiced their complaints while tenants and members of the public supported the chair.
“It's our lives. We work here. We do good work. We're good people. And the perpetuation of negativity and perpetuation of the fight between whatever this is, we don't want to have that negativity in our daily lives. We want to come to work. We want to do good work. We want to have a nice balanced relationship.”—Gary Dean, Director of Maintenance
The executive director interrupted another speaker without being recognized by the chair.
"Speaking over members of the public as they try to participate legally in local government is shameful. Multiple members of the SHA leadership did this last night and they should be embarrassed for themselves and the SHA. The very worst of this was when Executive Director Hoog was asked by the Board Chair Veronica Miranda not to speak over a member of the public, she uttered clearly for all to hear, 'I'll do what I want.'"—William Legault, Salem Digest on Facebook, June 13, 2024
A Salem resident noted that public comments are protected under open meeting law.
"It was a real violation of the open meeting law when Sue Kirby was speaking and [your executive director] said, 'that's a total lie.' It was a real violation of the open meeting law when a housing authority employee interrupted Mr. Collins and then proceeded to disregard the chair. [That] is a constitutional violation here in Massachusetts. A recent case makes public comment very protected by the right to free speech, and both of these people had their right to free speech." Denise Regan, transcribed from minutes of the August 14, 2024 comments session of the meeting of the Salem Housing Authority Board.
One of several Salem residents saw no need for an investigation.
“I'd like to voice my opinion that this is not the appropriate subject matter for an investigation. It's a board where you're asking questions, perhaps criticizing, and making staff and the director uncomfortable. However, I see that as the responsibility of the board. And as a Salem resident, it's what I expect from this board. And the executive director is an employee of the board, as are the staff members. It really is falls on the executive director to figure out a way to move forward working with a board member that is asking questions that may that that she sees us intrusive, that's the role of the board...I haven't seen anything that's workplace harassment. It's someone on the board doing their job, perhaps not in a way that people find this polite, comfortable, but that's her job and I would call on the board members to support your fellow board member that is doing her job.”—Denise Regan, comments at the Salem Housing Authority Board meeting
The report
The report by Regina Ryan, an independent investigator, found no basis for the allegations by staff. This was not surprising, because a review of the video recordings of board meetings showed that Chair Miranda knew and carefully followed the governing documents, including the Open Meeting Law and the bylaws of the housing authority.
Veronica Miranda, as the tenant commissioner and Chair of the Salem Housing Authority (SHA) board, enables everyone, including tenants, to have a voice and be heard, and she asks probing questions as part of her oversight responsibility.
The voices of tenants and the steadfast courage of Veronica Miranda are benefits, not attacks on anyone, or on the Salem Housing Authority.
Although the purpose of the Salem Housing Authority is to serve tenants and it is the job of the board to set policy and to oversee operations, were the Executive Director and the staff threatened by what they saw as disrespect and a challenge to their control?
Did that reaction motivate the baseless accusations against Chair Miranda and the apparent attempt to manipulate the situation to ensure the dominance of the executive director and staff and to intimidate tenants?—JH, comments at the August 14 Salem Housing Authority Board meeting.
Finding a solution
Although everyone says they want a great Salem Housing Authority, the governance system is in turmoil. How can we remedy the breakdown in trust that affects everyone: tenants, the board, the executive director, the staff, and even the public? Each of these parts seems to be struggling to be heard or to control the conversation as part of a struggle for power. This does not sound like a place where people are collaborating to solve problems.
Can we find a way to create a more collaborative, transparent community and to value constructive input from everyone?
In response to our request for an answer to this question, we received the following statement from Veronica Miranda.
“I stepped into the role of interim board Chair not out of personal ambition, but because I had the experience, commitment, and was the longest-serving member on the Board capable of facilitating this process. I hadn’t expected that just 5 months later, a document would be dropped on my lap of several accusations of my misconduct, including a “hostile workplace complaint” from upper management staff that I hadn’t engaged with outside of board meetings. After two years of service, this was the first time I’d heard complaints, leading me to suspect that the timing was intentional given the upcoming election for Chair.”
“In the months leading up to being cleared of these accusations, I felt like I was screaming into the void. I was holding up a mirror to the system's dysfunction while the harms against me went largely unacknowledged. People with power stood by, watching the abuse unfold, abandoning any sense of solidarity when it mattered most. It was painful to see that some were unwilling to speak up or leverage their political capital on my behalf. I felt trapped under the weight of the system, witnessing its failures unfold in front of me, all directed at me. Navigating these public benefits systems my entire life has been a constant reminder of how precarious my situation can be. It was as if no one even stopped to consider the impact these false allegations would have on my life and my child’s life. The specter of eviction for so-called lease violations, harassment and intimidation of staff, loomed large, and yet it was treated as just another bureaucratic process. These folks weren’t just attacking my reputation; they were threatening my stability, my safety, and my family.”
“To transform the organization into a more supportive and empowering environment, I envision establishing regular feedback channels, such as anonymous surveys and community forums, allowing tenants and staff to share their experiences and concerns without fear of reprisal. I’ll continue to lean into strengthening governance of the Board. I envision coming out of this experience and entering a strategic planning process that is driven by the tenants; one that fosters alignment between the Board and the staff on our mission and goals to serve people as well as possible.”—Veronica J. Miranda, Tenant Commissioner and Chair of the Salem Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.
We asked Cathy Hoog, the Executive Director of the Salem Housing Authority for a statement:
“Working collaboratively in any system requires a number of different actions. In my opinion and experience, fostering collaboration as a value within an organization makes for great team building. Encouraging open communication, highlighting successes, promoting growth, building important opportunity for advancement/training and establishing regular time for information sharing and brainstorming are all important in the continuation of trust building.”—Cathy Hoog, Executive Director of the Salem Housing Authority.
Will these two leaders, Cathy Hoog and Veronica Miranda, be able to find common ground, overcome the cultural barriers and administrative morass that surround public housing, and create a home for tenants free of fear, harassment, bullying, and retaliation?
The task will demand new flexibility, courage, and collaboration for building a new consensus shared by commissioners, director, staff, and tenants.
Even in public and subsidized housing, it is possible to have peaceful enjoyment and even, dare we hope, joy.
Resources
Janice Harper, PhD, Bullying and Mobbing in Group Settings; a statement presented to the Massachusetts Commission on Bullying, 7 August 2017. http://stopbullyingcoalition.org/harper-mobbing
“Office of the Attorney General Advisory: The failure of management and the landlord to assure peaceful enjoyment for all tenants is unlawful, according to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” tinyurl.com/2e4fspb4
FR–5248–F–02 Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices Under the Fair Housing Act, Final Rule published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2016, CFR Citation: 24 CFR 100, p. 63075 tinyurl.com/y4vkvhs9 “A Rule by the Housing and Urban Development Department”
Molly Rockett, Private Property Managers, Unchecked: The Failures of Federal Compliance Oversight in Project-Based Section 8 Housing, 134 Harv. L. Rev. F. 286 March 2021 https://harvardlawreview.org/forum/vol-134/private-property-managers-un…
Duffy, Maureen and Len Sperry, Mobbing: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Duffy, Maureen and Len Sperry, Overcoming Mobbing: A Recovery Guide for Workplace Aggression and Bullying, (New York:Oxford University Press, 2013).
Office of the Tenant Advocate A bill presented by Senator Joan Lovely and Representative Sally Kerans and others; H3868, is modeled on the carefully drafted Fair Housing Law rule on hostile environment harassment. H3868 provides protection for all tenants in multifamily subsidized and public housing without limitation to members of a protected class.
Halberstadt, Jerry, Sticks, Stones, Gossip & Governance Part 1 of 2
Halberstadt, Jerry, Sticks, Stones, Gossip & Governance Part 2 of 2
Halberstadt, Jerry, Bullying & Democracy At Apple Village
Halberstadt, Jerry, Community Norms and Governance of Housing, 2020
Jerry Halberstadt and Marvin So, Statewide Survey on Bullying of Tenants in Public and Subsidized Multifamily Housing: Report of the Committee for Research on Conditions and Prevalence of the Commission on Bullying.
http://stopbullyingcoalition.org/stop-mobbing
Chapter 268A: CONDUCT OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter268A
https://salemha.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Salem-Housing-Authority-Code-of-Ethics-Conduct.pdf
Board Meetings of the Salem Housing Authority (online video)
Regina M. Ryan, Founder and President, Discrimination and Harassment Solutions, LLC
Office of the Inspector General, How to be an effective member of a public board of commission, October 2024