legislation

Dear Senator Lovely and Representative Walsh,

In the remaining time before the end of this legislative session, can we please establish the ombuds office, possibly by an amendment to S900/H1407?

For a decade, the Stop Bullying Coalition has been seeking a way to protect elderly and disabled tenants living in subsidized and public housing from bullying and mobbing.

Together, landlords, management, and tenants help to create a polity, a form of governance with accepted norms and rules that are enforced, and with a means to resolve disputes. Everyone shares responsibility and no person—housing provider/landlord, manager, staff, resident, or visitor either bullies or is bullied. The landlord acts to prevent and mitigate bullying and prevents mobbing from emerging. There are resources, incentives, and guides to enable a positive community, and there is oversight and accountability over the landlord.

We, the elderly and disabled tenants of public and subsidized housing, need legislation to establish an independent ombuds office to protect us from bullying and mobbing and hold landlords accountable. The Attorney General has decreed that preventing harassment is the responsibility of the landlord, and failure to act is unlawful. However, there is no effective remedy available to targets of bullying and mobbing. The solution is an independent ombuds office with the power to receive reports, investigate and evaluate, resolve where possible, and with the authority to hold the landlord accountable before the law—this is essential to protect tenants from bullying and mobbing, and thus assure their rights.

What is mobbing? You will recognize it when tenants say, “They don’t belong here. Let’s get rid of them.” When a tenant group tries to evict people, where will it end? Do we really want to live like that?

Stop Bullying and Mobbing, the ombuds office bill S1084 Do you want to stop bullying and mobbing in your housing? Use your power to influence legislators. They do listen when we speak up. We are making a push to support S1084 to create an ombuds office to protect elderly and disabled tenants in public and subsidized housing. And S900/H1407 will help landlords do a better job. S900 & S1084, are complementary, each provides a part of the solution. Right to Counsel (RTC) Two identical bills,S.874/H.1436, Senate and House, are designed to establish a pilot program to provide legal counsel to persons facing eviction. Having an attorney will level the playing field.

At last, a solid, well-researched, in depth article about major issues in public housing, including bullying, has been published by WickedLocal. The lead article by WickedLocal reporter, Willam J. Dowd, provides an excellent review of the issues around bullying, with interviews and quotes from some of the key players. Against this background, Dowd notes the work of the Stop Bullying Coalition to advance a strong ombuds bill to protect tenants of public and subsidized housing from bullying.

During virtual Beacon Hill testimony before the Joint Committee on Housing on Tuesday, October 12, Jerry Halberstadt and Ms. Kolya Lynne Smith testified on the need to establish an independent, statewide ombuds office to protect elderly and disabled persons who live in public or subsidized housing from bullying, mobbing, and harassment. Their testimonies and that of Ms. Bonny Zeh are available here.

Let us Now Improve Ombuds Bill S1084 for Effective Protection

A well-designed ombuds office is essential to protect the rights and well-being of tenants in public and subsidized housing for elderly and disabled tenants. We have been seeking relief for almost a decade, and we are no longer pleading and petitioning, we now demand legislation to protect our rights.

Today we support the bill of Senator Lovely S900, along with Representative Honan’s bill H1443—to provide training, guidelines, and resources. The bills rely on the owner/manager to assure the peaceful enjoyment of all tenants. We must also have oversight, protection, and hold landlords to account when they fail to collaborate with tenants and build a healthy community.

After years of being bullied, harassed, and mobbed, I chose to leave to save myself, spending nearly one year as a homeless person while living in a tent and my car. All of my church friends said I was much happier homeless than being victimized, which I agreed with.