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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 21. August 28 1978
Tenants Strike Back — Tenancy Battle in the US
Tenants Strike Back
Tenancy Battle in the US
In a recent issue of Salient an article was published giving a basic outline of Wellington Tenants Union. A group that is struggling for fair rights for tenants. To see what can be done by having unity among tenants it would be a good idea to show what is being achieved by other tenants unions. One union is based in Sommerville, Mass. USA. and the article that follows is about the problems faced by Portuguese immigrant workers and their battle with a well known slumlord, Frank Privitera. It was published in a recent edition of the 'Free Press'.
How could we have thought that a landlord renting an apartment would maintain it and keep it free of sanitary code violations? In our building (Privitera's Vinal-Highland Building) there has never been a token attempt at maintenance, let alone compliance with the minimum Housing Standards. We all work hard here to earn money to pay the rent. Privitera works not at all, yet collects all the money. After months of being taken advantage of, we decided to strike back. So, year after year, we have had to use our right to rent strike in order to force Privitera to make repairs in our buildings.
At one time or another every tenant in the building had called Privitera's office for repairs. Unfortunately our requests fell on deaf ears. As we talked, we each began to realize that other tenants in the building had similar problems. We decided to have a meeting and compare experiences and decide what we could do together.
As a result of our meeting we all applied for inspections from the Somerville Board of Health. We knew that under the new State Health Code, inspectors must make full inspections — not just look at the problem for which they were called. Also tenants are supposed to receive a copy of the inspection results right away. The inspection of our building was incomplete; it included only the violations we reported.
Since we all were seasoned from our battles against Privitera, we gave each other the energy to fight further. We appealed to the State Department of Public Health for review of the violations and to the local Somerville Health Department Director for a hearing.
In preparation for the hearing, we compiled a list of all conditions which we felt were in violation of the Sanitary Code. At the hearing we presented this list to the Board of Directors of the Somerville Health Department and an official from the Department of Public Health. Our work paid off — our entire list of over 70 violations was certified below the minimum standards of human habitation!
In addition to the Board of Health inspection, we have requested inspections from the Building, Plumbing and Fire Departments. We also went on rent strike, and have applied to the Rent Control Board for rent abatements because of the violations we were forced to live with.
Each time we have fought with Privitera, we have become more unified. We all come to realize that if we were not organized, we would get nowhere. The battle is not over. We have to stick together to make sure these violations get repaired and repaired well.