Welcome to the Stop Bullying Coalition

Jerry Halberstadt Sun, 04/23/2023 - 15:31
“Until we value every person as a treasure of talent and joy, we will perpetuate the dynamics of wounding those who are viewed as less than human [by treating them] as objects which we can discard and toss aside as we choose.”—Mary Margaret Moore

The Stop Bullying Coalition guide
to protecting yourself

“Bullying,” any mode of communication to hurt and demean the target or victim. It is aggression and an effort to control that is used to make the target or victim do, or not do, the bidding of the perpetrator.

Are you experiencing a difficult situation of bullying, mobbing, and hostile environment harassment?

We can offer information and suggestions about sources of help for tenants and what you can do to advocate for yourself. It is much easier to respond if we know your specific situation.

Write to us in confidence with a summary of your situation, what you have done so far, and any results. Are you being bullied; harassed; mobbed? threatened? By whom: one tenant, several tenants, staff, management? Is it mobbing? Please include your address and contact information including email and phone, and if you know, the name of the landlord and the management company or the housing authority.
Coordinator (at) StopBullyingCoalition.org 

Suggestions

  • Keep a notebook to document problems of concern, what you do to seek help and resolution, a record of related conversations and correspondence, and the outcome. Include date, time, where, and who.

  • Take advantage of the extensive articles and resources at http://StopBullyingCoalition.org

  • Please sign up for our free newsletter.

  • Please become familiar with the definitions of bullying, group bullying, mobbing, harassing, and hostile environment harassment. See definitions; also, below.

The basics of landlord-tenant relationships

The landlord (and their agents, anyone working for the landlord) is legally responsible for assuring the “peaceful enjoyment” also called the “quiet enjoyment” of your home.

“Peaceful enjoyment,” the right to enjoy the use of a resident’s home and common spaces without interference.

In public housing, the landlord is effectively the board of commissioners who oversee the operations and the work of the executive director or manager.

In subsidized housing, the Federal HUD and/or the state pay subsidies to a private developer/landlord who generally delegates management to a management company, who then hires and oversees the operations and the work of the executive director or manager. 

How you can protect your rights

If the problems affect your neighbors as well as you, consider working together for mutual support and to make the case to the landlord and their agents, or to other agencies.

However, if the environment has mobbing or hostile environment harassment, beware of the risk of retaliation. The things that sometimes work against bullying will backfire in the context of mobbing. Mobbing can turn everyone in the housing situation against the target(s), it becomes too risky for anyone to speak in defense, and everyone will testify that the target "doesn't belong here."

The more the target fights back or shows any anger, the more likely they will be regarded as a threat to the group. The more evidence a target presents demonstrating that any accusations are unjust and/or their treatment abusive, the more members of the group will reject that evidence and become more insistent that the treatment is deserving, necessary for the good of the group, and of the target’s own doing.—Janice Harper, PhD, Bullying and Mobbing in Group Settings.

The "protections" that are said to be available are in actuality shams, and the designated agencies are swamped, without adequate resources, and unable to provide timely relief. 

To overcome mobbing, which is essentially the same as hostile environment harassment, we need oversight and enforcement by some external, superior agent to hold the landlord to account. Please advocate for the creation of the office of the tenant advocate in the Office of the Attorney General that can introduce real oversight and accountability for landlords.

“Hostile environment harassment,” unwelcome conduct creating a situation that makes it difficult or impossible for victims to have the peaceful enjoyment of their residency.

Three or more documented instances of a physical assault or damage to your property and or threats of a physical assault or damage to your property are “harassment” under state law 258e. If you are the victim of such threats and/or actual assaults or damages, you can seek an order of protection from a court and you can do it without an attorney.

If the problem is between or among neighbors, first seek to resolve it by discussion. If there is risk involved with the neighbor(s), then discuss with the manager. We find that an email about the problem addressed to the manager is important to establish a record, including any email responses.

If the problem persists, consider going up the administrative chain to the landlord. Use email and be sure to copy using cc: to every level of management. Note that resident service coordinators generally avoid getting involved in disputes among tenants and usually don’t have the power to enforce rules.

Consider the value of finding allies and resources in the local community and with state legislators and agencies. These include local human rights groups; elected municipal officials; state representative and senator. In public housing, the political and social culture of the local municipality influences the kind of people appointed to the housing board and thus the management style.

If discrimination is involved, the Federal Fair Housing Law and the Mass Commission on Discrimination (MCAD) should offer help; most cases go to MCAD, which is currently dealing with a backlog. If you experience discrimination, do file a complaint even if the system is not responsive. You may also file a civil court action, although the legal cost is likely prohibitive.

The centers for independent living provide information and support for disabled persons.

There are two tenant advocacy groups that may be able to help with both knowing your rights and advocating for your rights and/or with organizing a tenant group.

Please reach out to your state representative and senator to advocate for H3868, An Act to create the Office of the Tenant Advocate in the Office of the Attorney General with the ability to intervene, protect us, and assure our rights as tenants. Find your legislator. Legislators want to hear from you.

Definitions

“Bullying,” any mode of communication to hurt and demean the target or victim. It is aggression and an effort to control that is used to make the target or victim do, or not do, the bidding of the perpetrator. An individual or group can mobilize members of the community to use gossip, social pressures and isolation as part of a bullying effort. Bullying harms and controls the target or victim and takes away their rights, dignity, self-respect, health and well-being. Bullying takes away the right of peaceful enjoyment.

“Hostile environment harassment,” unwelcome conduct creating a situation that makes it difficult or impossible for victims to have the peaceful enjoyment of their residency. Hostile environment harassment exists when a person was subjected to unwelcome spoken, written or physical conduct and the conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive as to interfere with or deprive the victim of their right to use and enjoy the housing. A determination of whether this standard has been met is to be based on the totality of the circumstances. Whether a hostile environment harassment violation has occurred is a fact-specific inquiry. Hostile environment harassment shall include, but not be limited to, bullying or mobbing. Hostile environment harassment can be written, verbal or other conduct and does not require physical contact. A single incident of harassment may constitute hostile environment harassment, where the incident is sufficiently severe to create a hostile environment.

(1) Factors to be considered to determine whether hostile environment harassment exists include but are not limited to, the nature of the conduct, the context in which the incident occurred, the severity, scope, frequency, duration and location of the conduct and the relationships of the persons involved.

(2) Neither psychological nor physical harm must be demonstrated to prove that a hostile environment exists. Evidence of psychological or physical harm may, however, be relevant in determining whether a hostile environment existed and, if so, the amount of damages to which an aggrieved person may be entitled.

(3) Whether unwelcome conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive as to create a hostile environment is evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable person in the aggrieved person's position.

“Mobbing,” consists of a group or community harassing and bullying a victim through cooperative or aggressive behavior, including in order to get them to leave their residence. In housing, mobbing can be initiated, condoned or supported by a landlord or housing authority.

“Peaceful enjoyment,” the right to enjoy the use of a resident’s home and common spaces without interference. The landlord or the housing authority is legally responsible for assuring the peaceful enjoyment of all tenants.

Resources

Janice Harper on Mobbing; https://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 the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Office of the Attorney General Advisory: All Tenants Have a Right to Be Free from Harassment and Intimidation, April 11, 2018.

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

Official Report of the Commission on Bullying. (2017) (copy on request)

Minority Report of the Commission on Bullying (copy on request)

https://stopbullyingcoalition.org/stop-mobbing 

 

Please reach out to your state representative and senator to advocate for H3868, An Act to create the Office of the Tenant Advocate in the Office of the Attorney General with the ability to intervene, protect us, and assure our rights as tenants. Find your legislator. Legislators want to hear from you.

 

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