Frustration, Retaliation & Betrayal
Guest article by Rachel I. Branch
Rachel I. Branch has a long history as senior staff for leaders of organizations in health and public service: she is the person who makes things happen, practical, energetic, and highly talented.
How then, considering her demonstrated skills and talents, can we understand the source of her frustration in seeking her rights as a tenant? Has Rachel brought this on herself, or is the system to blame?
Rachel, thank you for all that you do and for your writing this important article.
Frustration, Retaliation & Betrayal
Copyright 2025 Rachel I. Branch
What does it take to stop the bullying and the retaliation when desperation overflows as one tries to find some way to enforce the rights of individuals to live the most peaceful, dignified and best lives in their twilight years? How many years does an elder and disabled individual keep banging one's head against a concrete door that will not open and then realize it is really cemented shut? My frustration level is saturated, actually supersaturated, with the triple-layered concrete wall we all seem to continue to encounter. What is beyond my understanding and acceptance is Why this is allowed...Why this is acceptable...Why this is even a topic of conversation...and especially Why those in powerful positions paid through taxpayer dollars cannot get off their collective butts and just do their jobs.
What does it take to write a bill, pass it through committee (which to me is an unnecessary step in and of itself!), take a vote and get it signed into law? The machinations are disgracefully incompetent and unacceptable. It is not the wheels of Justice moving slowly...Justice appears to not be on the horizon at all, and we know that "Justice delayed is Justice denied!"
And here I am sitting way beyond actual frustration facing the very real elephant in the room named, "RETALIATION!" If one dares to speak up or complain, the end road is eviction, and that is the very real, serious, expected and known reality each and every one of us face who live in HUD subsidized housing or any form of public housing. It is no joke, and it is an unearthly, ungodly way to live at this time in our lives. And the consequences lead to a downward spiral that makes it impossible or nearly impossible to find a safe, stable and secure home!
On December 9, 2021, I filed a complaint with HUD, a very specific and legally sound document with 33 supporting documents (probably has class action status). It all began because the owner of East Point properties of Nashua, New Hampshire, made a $12,732 error on my recertification documents, saying I had that amount in my savings account, which I did not. And instead of correcting its error, East Point sent a sheriff to serve me with eviction papers. At no time in my life had I ever been threatened with eviction. Actually, in any rented apartment in which I have made my home, the landlord did not want me to leave because I was such a good tenant!
As an octogenarian, you can imagine how frightening that was for me and would be (or has been) for each of you.
Further, I am a person who could not be vaccinated because of a high risk of blood clotting and multiple allergies. When the fire alarms needed to be updated, I specifically wrote a memo telling the maintenance staff that anyone entering my apartment must be masked, feet covered, and only one man at a time. I was not in my apartment at the time, and two technicians came in, and from what I learned, unmasked and without feet covered, and then left my apartment open for the rest of the afternoon. When I went to the police, I was told this was a landlord tenant problem!
No one would come forward to support my complaint, and even HUD became part of the problem. The first person who received my complaint was Daniel Myers, the Equal Opportunity Specialist for the Northeast Region of HUD in Boston. To date, he is the only one who understood my complaint, spent nearly one-half hour talking with me about it, about the specifics of the HUD procedures, and the probable ramifications to those charged. He had to pass it on to the director of the Public and Indian Affairs (If you can believe that is still its title!) department. The director of that department turned it over to an employee who then passed it on to the MassHousing employee who was supposed to handle the complaints from where I lived. When I went to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), it would not take my complaint...even though my grounds were clear and documented...because I was told that the complaint with HUD was pending!
My complaint about Village East in North Adams, owned by East Point Properties, included the fact that Round Up, a known carcinogen, was being sprayed under the apartment windows and around the property by the maintenance personnel and had been used for years. There are multiple multi-million dollar lawsuits aimed at Round Up. Governor Baker's protocols for COVID were not being followed nor were proper notices provided tenants.
Of my 33 supporting documents, residents shared with me the bullying and harassment incidents they were subjected to by the maintenance personnel and owners' staff when attempts to complain were initiated.
One of the most egregious was a woman who lost her old dog in the spring and one month later was diagnosed with ALS. I assisted her in just trying to get a ramp; after which, however, the maintenance personnel made her move to another apartment, an apartment without the required toilet specifically designed for a disabled person. She has since passed away.
My neighbor, now 94 and a veteran, has been bullied since he moved next door to me. When I began writing this article, he and the other tenants were not even advised that the water was being turned off to install a new boiler. This dear friend was not even able to take a shower before a doctor's appointment! Of course, he called the owners' representatives, and again nothing was done and continues not to be done to stop the maintenance personnel, the core problem for years at this HUD subsidized housing village, aided and abetted by the owners.
When I called the owners on several occasions to complain, they advised me that there were no complaints and asked why people were complaining to me.
Residents were telling me their complaints because at the time I was a candidate for mayor of North Adams, had been a Fair Housing Commissioner and Housing Authority Commissioner with a long background of fighting for human and civil rights. I was not going to be deterred.
What did not occur to me when I filed my complaint was the fact the no one would respond...paid employees at HUD, our government and elected officials...No One! It appears that the new game in town or maybe one that has been being played politically for years and years, is to just not respond or kick the can down the road, hoping that someone like me would just go away. The angst I felt grew each time I watched this scenario unfold again and again.
One attorney, whom I paid for a consultation and even contributed to her organization, told me to sign the recertification papers if it did not affect my rent. If I had done that, I could have been evicted for fraudulently signing a document. She tried to deny that she had advised me to sign, but I had her in writing and demanded my money back, which I got. Shortly after that her center for justice received a $50,000 grant. You cannot make this crap up!
The agencies and elected representatives I attempted to engage would not, and still will not, respond. Among them, besides the North Adams Police Department, were its health department and its mayor (who was twice provided a copy of my complaint), all of whom did nothing. Berkshire Elder Services, the Governor's Department of Elder Disability, the new Third District state representative (Before she was elected had my complaint and made no attempt to respond or acknowledge that she would act after elected); and the state senator from my district did nothing (Although his aide did offer to connect me with the staff of one of our two U.S. senators): U.S. Senator Edward Markey! When I asked Markey's Massachusetts office to have him personally read my complaint, I was told he could not! At that point I asked what it took for constituents who had put him in office to read a complaint about abuse of elderly and disabled residents. I then got a telephone call from Boston, but I do not discuss anything over the phone. With over 20 years working in law, I will not be put in the position of anyone using a phone call to say I said something I did not say...One must answer me in writing. My list goes on and on, but I feel sure you get a very clear and unambiguous picture.
Apparently, elected officials believe they are too important to talk to constituents, which is egregious and totally unacceptable and just goes to show that only the monied elite campaign contributors can talk personally with elected officials. Speaking to that alone, I believe campaign funds after an election need to be contributed to non-profit organizations or returned to contributors to level the playing field for our attempts to have a representative government, which we do not have nor have we ever had. That is another huge source of the problem that shines an infrared light on everything I am discussing right here.
To this day nothing has been done to address my very serious (and ongoing) complaint...No one would step forward to address and resolve the complaint; and, once again, another "Seasoned" citizen who is also disabled was ignored, disgracefully treated and left in a limbo and that affects each and every one of us whose homes are in subsidized or public housing.
The outcome for me personally was that I had to leave North Adams, the home of my birth and significant historical family background, and it took me 17 months to be able to find another home. To think that any of us who are required to live in subsidized or public housing are secure, flies in the face of the real dilemma we now find ourselves.
And here I must commend Jerry Halberstadt for his years of advocacy and unending commitment to find any way possible to stop bullying, the harassment and the retaliation that comes with the territory. It is a grueling and seemingly unending fight. He and I are continually in contact about trying to ensure and safeguard the dignity of each of us and find some avenue that reaches that goal only to continue to hit a dead end again and again. That appears to be the modus operandi of every elected official, every agency, every legal entity I have contacted. There was either no answer or one is shoved off to another agency so the end result turns out to be a merry-go-round going nowhere, a vicious nauseating circle ad infinitum.
The time, expense, and constant feeling that there might be some hope becomes exhausting. But the hope we must share is to support each other one to one to one together and just keep on trudging forward with strength and determination. I sure ain't giving up!
P.S. I was recently appointed a Dalton Housing Authority Commissioner unanimously by the Dalton Select Board to fill the empty seat that the governor did not fill. Any city or town can fill those positions if the seat is left vacant for 120 days. The Dalton Town Clerk, Heather Hunt, is the person who made that happen.
Anyone who wants a copy of my HUD complaint and a list of the 33 supporting documents can receive one by emailing me at branchnotes@gmail.com, and I would be happy to provide them.