Property Policy

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I would like to correct several statements made in The Crimson editorial of February 19, and in the process describe the method by which Harvard has recently sold some of its small wood-frame rent-controlled properties.

Harvard has sold five such one- to three-family houses since the fall of 1983. Four of the five buyers were Cambridge residents, and two were faculty members. The University has sold these houses for two reasons first, to give faculty an opportunity to live and work in Cambridge, near the University, and second, to decrease Harvard's real estate holdings in the neighborhood.

When a property is offered for sale. Harvard Real Estate, Inc. notifies the tenants living there. (The Crimson editorial implied that tenants are informed only later, when the general public is told that the property is for sale.) Harvard does not evict tenants in order to sell properties; in fact, potential buyers are informed that Harvard will not evict tenants and, as far as we know, none of the new owners have done so. If a property is not bought through the faculty notice, tenants are given the opportunity to purchase it. If they choose not to purchase, Harvard Real Estate, Inc., offers the property for sale to other members of the community Ads have recently been placed in the real estate sections of the Boston Globe and the Cambridge Chronicle.

It is true that these properties will no longer be subject to rent control if they are owned by owner-occupants. That is what Cambridge law, not Harvard's policy, provides. The University as provided no subsidized financing, nor has it retained options to repurchase any of these properties in the future. Should one of the current buyers resell a property to any non-owner-occupant (including Harvard University), it would again become subject to rent control.

Harvard does not "avoid paying double in property taxes" on its small houses, as stated in the editorial. These properties and already assessed and taxed as though they were owner-occupied. The city loses no tax revenue when such a property is sold, as the new owner will simply pay the same taxes as the University has paid.

Finally, Harvard has repeatedly facilitated low-cost housing opportunities for those community members who need them. The 210 units of elderly housing in Inman and Putnam Squares, the 775 units of subsidized housing at Mission Park, the land donated for the River-Howard community housing development and the 54 units on Ware St. saved from condominium conversion are all examples of low-cost housing supported by Harvard. Sally Zockhauser   President, Harvard Real Estate, Inc.