Tenants Charge University Plans Rents Control Dodge

An organization of tenants in Harvard owned buildings last night charged Harvard has plans to sell as many as 60 of its two and three-family buildings for faculty housing in an attempt to circumvent city rent-control regulations.

Michael H. Turk, coordinator of the Harvard Tenants Union, made the allegations at the Cambridge City Council's regular meeting.

Several councilors expressed alarm over Turk's comments and said they would try to find out whether the University was planning sales that might be unfair to current tenants.

University officials could not be reached for comment last night.

Under city regulations, owner occupied buildings housing three or fewer families are not subject to rent control and rules for owner tenant relations, including those forbidding eviction without cause.

Definite Plans

Turk said Harvard has definite plans to sell at least five buildings in the Agassiz and Riverside neighborhoods of Cambridge. He added the sales stemmed from a University report which last spring recommended finding additional housing in the community for faculty members.

By selling smaller buildings to Harvard employees. Turk said, the University would be able to dramatically raise rents without city interference. He appealed to the council to consider zoning laws to keep the housing under city rent control.

Harvard Gimmick

Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci called the alleged plans "nothing but a Harvard gimmick" to "circumvent the laws of the city of Cambridge."

Another councilor, David E. Sullivan, said he needed to know more about the charges, and that he would probably either ask for a public hearing or a report from the city manager.

Turk said Harvard told the council in June it intended to sell buildings at 2 Riverside Place and at 69 Putnam Ave He declined to say how he learned of the alleged plans to sell three other buildings.

Turk's latest charges come after a long history of bitter fights between HRE and the Harvard tenants groups, with the city council often backing tenants groups. Most recently, HRE's Craigie Arms apartment building on Mt. Auburn St. has been the subject of a rent control controversy which has led the management company to simply take the units off the rental market