2008 Woodie Awards
Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Fights for Tenant Rights
Dan Mach and Mira Edmonds
Issue date: 1/18/07 Section: News
Under the new settlement and a court order, the landlord must provide the tenants with temporary housing while their units undergo renovation. MacManus, speaking of her experiences in this case, was grateful for the opportunity "to use the Legal Aid Bureau's resources to apply the protections of the law and to give, through the efforts of the students, a group of tenants who had been waiting for 10 years…the chance of having all the conditions they have been living with finally improved."
Most recently, the Bureau negotiated a settlement on behalf of a tenant association in Roxbury whose members were facing unaffordable rent increases imposed by their landlord. Student attorneys Kimberly Harbin '07 and Lara Kislinger '07 used a multi-faceted approach to achieve a collective bargaining agreement with the landlord that provides for limited rent increases and significantly below-market rents over the next five years. Tenant organizers at City Life/Vida Urbana were instrumental in aligning the tenants' interests, while mediators at Boston's City Hall encouraged the Boston Housing Authority to pledge Section 8 subsidies to the development-a crucial element of the deal.
In addition to these successful settlements, Bureau members have been busy lobbying city and state governments to provide legal protections for tenants and to increase the resources available for their defense. Since September, Grossman and Bureau member Goutam Jois '07 have worked to promote legislation that would require collective bargaining between commercial landlords and tenants' associations. As part of their campaign, Jois and Grossman have testified before the Housing Committee of the Boston City Council, coordinated strategies with community groups such as City Life/Vida Urbana to mobilize tenant associations and seek political allies on the City Council, and drafted the original version of a bill that City Councilor Sam Yoon introduced on November 29, 2006. That bill will likely come to a final vote in February.
Most recently, the Bureau negotiated a settlement on behalf of a tenant association in Roxbury whose members were facing unaffordable rent increases imposed by their landlord. Student attorneys Kimberly Harbin '07 and Lara Kislinger '07 used a multi-faceted approach to achieve a collective bargaining agreement with the landlord that provides for limited rent increases and significantly below-market rents over the next five years. Tenant organizers at City Life/Vida Urbana were instrumental in aligning the tenants' interests, while mediators at Boston's City Hall encouraged the Boston Housing Authority to pledge Section 8 subsidies to the development-a crucial element of the deal.
In addition to these successful settlements, Bureau members have been busy lobbying city and state governments to provide legal protections for tenants and to increase the resources available for their defense. Since September, Grossman and Bureau member Goutam Jois '07 have worked to promote legislation that would require collective bargaining between commercial landlords and tenants' associations. As part of their campaign, Jois and Grossman have testified before the Housing Committee of the Boston City Council, coordinated strategies with community groups such as City Life/Vida Urbana to mobilize tenant associations and seek political allies on the City Council, and drafted the original version of a bill that City Councilor Sam Yoon introduced on November 29, 2006. That bill will likely come to a final vote in February.
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