Tenants Confront City Council, Demand New City Rent Board

More than 150 tenants, including representatives of 15 Cambridge tenant unions, forced the City Council to hold an unscheduled hearing last night, at which they demanded that the present Rent Control Board (RCB) either be replaced with a tenant-elected board or be required to obey the Rent Control regulations.

Increases

Claiming that the Rent Control Board has been interpreting its regulations in favor of landlords, the tenants also complained that the Board had been granting rent increases for sub-standard housing and has continually postponed rent adjustment hearings requested by tenants.

Another complaint was voiced by Dan Hodges, a member of the Cambridge Tenants Organizing Committee. "The 'Across the Board Adjustment' is supposed to give some tenants decreases, but the Rent Board has used it only to grant landlords increases," he said.

After the tenants had left the meeting, Councillor Alfred E. Vellucci submitted a motion calling for the City Manager, John H. Corcoran, to dismiss the present members of the Rent Board.

Vellucci said, "three weeks ago the landlords were here complaining about the Rent Board. Tonight it was the tenants. I say they should get the hell out."

Earlier in the meeting, Vellucci received a loud ovation from the tenants when he said, "If I had any say about it I'd make damn sure there were some blue-collar and working class tenants on the Rent Board."

Regulations

Many of the tenants who detailed their specific grievances to the Council quoted RCB regulations and told of personal experiences where the Board's actions conflicted with its regulations.

A representative of the 35 Brookline St. Tenant Union said, "Contrary to the Board's regulations, we and many other tenants have been told by the Board to pay rent increases before we've even had hearings."

Another tenant said she and four other tenants in her building had been informed by the RCB that it would hold a hearing to consider evicting them for not paying an increased rent, even though the Board had not yet given the tenants a required hearing to dispute the rent increase.