Harvard Hypocrisy

To the Editors of The Crimson:

In a December issue of The Harvard Gazette, the University praised itself for the creation of affordable housing on the St. Paul's lot where the University has allowed the Cambridge Housing Authority to build several units of single-room occupancy apartments on a part of the lot recently acquired from St. Paul Catholic Parish. Kathy Spiegelman, the director of planning, is quoted as saying that "this project has given the University the opportunity to meet its own housing needs and at the same time provide affordable housing for the community. It is a partnership effort of which we are very proud."

The University is giving the impression that it actually is willing to do more about affordable housing if it is given an opportunity. This, however, is hardly the case. Just in the past year, we have presented ample opportunities to the University to become involved in helping the homeless and in creating affordable housing. In April, we presented a resolution, endorsed by the Cambridge City Council and the PBH Cabinet and signed by more than 1000 Harvard-Radcliffe students calling on the University to donate one of its currently unused lots to build permanent housing for homeless families.

The University did nothing in that regard. Moreover, the resolutions called for the University to agree to a linkage proposal it sabotaged successfully in concert with MIT in 1984. That proposal asked developers either to use 30 percent of the land developed for low-income housing or to pay an equivalent amount into a linkage fund.

In the case of St. Paul's, the University did agree to linkage, not because it was excited about the opportunity to provide affordable housing but because St. Paul's, the former owner of the lot, stipulated in the sale agreement that the University was required to provide affordable housing on that property. In the University's other current developments such as the transformation of the Gulf Station and the lot on De Wolfe Street, there will be no affordable housing created.

The last "missed opportunity" by the University was a request made by the PBH Homeless Committee in October to provide a space for a nightly evening meal program and drop-in center in Harvard Square. Initially, we were told that there was a chance that we could get a space in one of the currently unused athletic facilities. But that was the last thing we heard on that matter, and a space for a Sunday night meal program, which was to be our top priority, was found elsewhere in St. James/Porter Square.

Bread and Jams, the group running the Sunday meal program, is still looking for a nightly drop-in center in Harvard Square to provide a secure space as well as job and housing counseling for homeless people in the Harvard Square area. There is still an opportunity for the University to provide real help to the homeless by providing such a space in one of the unused buildings such as the Lowell Lecture Hall or the Carey Cage.

We hope that the University will seize these and other opportunities so that it then truly has reason to be proud of its record in regard to affordable housing and help to the homeless in Harvard Square. Stephan Klasen '91   on behalf of The Committee on Housing Rights   Phillips Brooks House Association