A too-friendly landlord? Part 3, the stalemate
[Continued from the previous Part 1 and Part 2.]
So far we have seen that Bromley-Heath is a nest of drug dealing, gang battles, and homicides. Yet Ms. Hailey, in a triumph of idealism over reality, remains true to the principles expressed on the Tenant Management Corporation’s Web site:
The TMC’s approach to management has been and remains the key to its ability to bring change to Bromley-Heath. The residents who came together to form the TMC had learned much during their earlier experiences in organizing the community. They understood that to rebuild and maintain a community, they would have to help Bromley-Heath tenants to regain self-esteem and pride in their accomplishments.
And so, the TMC determined that management would not only be sensitive to the many needs of the residents but also proactive in finding ways to help them reach self-sufficiency. This strategy for management enabled the TMC to stabilize the deterioration of Bromley-Heath in the 1970’s. Today it continues to be critical in getting new residents back on the road to caring about themselves, their families and their community.
These are noble goals. They are also essential functions of making extremely low income affordable housing successful places. They require, however, defending the property from those who would destroy it even as they live in it. And that Bromley-Heath’s TMC has consistently failed to do:
A year ago, [BHA Director Sandra] Henriquez sent a letter blasting the Bromley-Heath tenants group for not maintaining “performance standards.”
Ms. Henriquez herself has an impressive background in affordable housing property management
Management remains a major concern:
[BHA spokesperson
TMC and BHA came up with the HUD oversight idea, Agro said, after what appears to have been contentious discussions. The idea is that HUD would essentially perform BHA’s current role. “TMC is working on some preparations needed to move in that direction,” Agro said.
Management has been a problem for a decade:
The BHA’s 1998 takeover almost dissolved the TMC. Allegations included both regular management problems and disputes over the handling of crime, including failure to enforce federal housing laws requiring the eviction of residents convicted of drug crimes. The takeover followed a major gang and drug bust. Those busted included two of Hailey’s grandsons—one alleged as leading a Bromley-Heath gang, and another on drug charges, both without Hailey’s knowledge.
As the Herald put it:
Hailey’s grandson
Thus we have the head of the management company with one son in the drug business and two grandsons in drugs and gangs. One might think that they were taking shelter under her stout political umbrella:
A federal audit and criminal investigation of TMC followed [In 1998 — Ed.], and a BHA-appointed administrator managed the property for a year. But no one in TMC was charged with a crime, and the organization held on and eventually returned to power.
If this bears any echoes to the recent film The Departed … well, it too was set in
“You see, there’s guys you can hit and guys you can’t hit.
Now he’s not a guy you can’t hit, but he’s pretty close to a guy you can’t hit.”
There was significant restructuring, including the disbanding of a TMC-run security force.
Antagonism among stakeholders. Understandably, Ms. Henriquez and the BHA are highly dissatisfied, and the disputes have become entrenched, and highly personalized (a common tactic of the tarnished incumbent fighting to retain power):
“I have struggled long and hard with how to address this problem without engaging in additional conflict,” Henriquez wrote. “The fault-finding and recriminations have damaged the relationship to a degree that makes it difficult to move forward without significant changes.”
A power base more than a technical job. Even a sympathetic editorial columnist recognizes that Ms. Hailey sees things personally:
Few are as identified with a community as Hailey is with Bromley-Heath. She was the tenant leader who had the idea that tenants, rather than the Boston Housing Authority, could and should run the place. Since that battle was won, in 1973, she has been in charge. She is a legendary figure in public housing.
Ms. Hailey (center) surrounded by friends
So legendary, in fact, that even though the BHA has clear and unequivocal rights to compel a management change, it is electing to tiptoe, offering HUD as an intermediary:
Asked why HUD was suggested, Agro would only say that both groups “thought this was the best course of action to take.” She acknowledged there is a perception that HUD could be seen as a neutral third party in TMC-BHA tensions. Also, federal regulations allow TMCs to request direct HUD oversight. And Hailey has a good relationship with HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who visited the development in 2005.
Your tax dollars at work: Secretary Jackson tours Bromley-Heath
HUD taking over BHA’s role could mean that the TMC stays in place. But a BHA takeover would likely replace the TMC.
But HUD essentially never takes over individual developments, [HUD spokesperson Jerry] Brown said, adding, “I’m not aware of one in recent history.”
HUD is more likely to take over entire city housing authorities, but even that is very rare and “absolutely not” a consideration in
Mr. Brown is correct on both counts; I’ve never heard of HUD, a Federal agency, mediating a dispute between a housing authority and a management entity that reports to the authority.
“I’m not sure we would involve ourselves in a local situation,” Brown said. He added that from what he has heard, “There is cause for concern” about TMC’s management, but, “We anticipate that the Boston Housing Authority would be able to do that [takeover] here.”
The very idea of proposing a HUD takeover, Brown said, “begs the question of why the [
Sure does, doesn’t it?
Come on, tell us why, tell us why, tell us why!
“I’m not sure everybody’s going to be happy if we come in,” Brown said with a laugh when asked about the idea of HUD as a neutral third party. “If we come in, there are going to be changes.”
He said HUD more commonly provides “technical assistance,” such as auditors or inspectors, to housing authorities dealing with management problems.
Still, any such proposal is a trial balloon at best. The eighty-three-year-old Ms. Hailey is still righteous:
The longtime tenant activist who runs the troubled Bromley-Heath housing development in Jamaica Plain vowed yesterday to fight the city’s planned takeover of the crime-ridden project with her “last breath.”
She also has shrewdly managed her power base, both locally and in in Washington:
Given that the current HUD director, Alphonso Jackson, is among her closest friends and admirers, HUD could displace BHA’s middleman role.
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson at Bromley-Heath in 2005
But even if that does not happen, the BHA appears to be rethinking its takeover talk. Deputy Director William McGonagle indicated yesterday the agency is leaning toward renewing its contract with Bromley-Heath TMC after all.
“There’s simply no one who possesses the kind of moral authority that Mildred and Anna have.”
In public housing properties, the authority needed is not moral but legal; the functions are technical, not advocacy; and the decision lies solely with the owner (the BHA), not the contractor (management agent).
As the customer, the BHA has the authority to choose its management
The management agent’s contract rests on sufferance. Further, how much moral authority can someone have when her apartment is the scene of drug dealing?
However, another scandal followed in 2000 when Hailey’s son was busted for an alleged drug deal conducted in her apartment, again without her knowledge.
I began this post by observing that when a property is severely troubled, there are three logical possibilities:
- Management good, property bad.
- Management bad, property good.
- Management bad, property bad.
Ms. Hailey and the TMC vociferously if vaguely claim they are in the right:
In an earlier interview with the Herald, Hailey said the report was “full of lies” and that the TMC prefers to help families, not evict them.
Who are you helping, Ms. Hailey, and who are you harming? Those whom you allow to stay, or those who are victimized by the problem families?
“We love this community. We have worked hard for 40 years to make it the community that it is,” Hailey said.
Today Bromley-Heath is a failed community; it is failing most of its residents.
“We have families with problems, not problem families. We are about rehabilitating those families, not eviction.”
Ms. Hailey, the TMC is failing the families who are not problems. It is time for you, and the TMC, to go.
