Last fall Representative Michael N. Castle wrote to HUD Secretary,
Andrew Cuomo, asking for his support for new HUD regulations that clarify the rights of
tenants to organize in HUD-supported multifamily housing projects.
The letter was the result of grassroots lobbying on the part of tenants
from two Delaware developments, Banneker Heights in Milford and Carvel Gardens in Laurel.
Tenant steering committees in both developments worked with Grace Jones of the Delaware
State Wide Association of Tenants and Gina Miserendino of the Delaware Housing Coalition
to draft letters to the Congressman in support of the new regulations and to obtain
signatures of residents.
In his letter of November 2, 1999, Congressman Castle remarked:
"...As you know, providing public housing is a large and
complicated task. As policy makers in Washington, D.C., we cannot effectively provide safe
and affordable housing without participation and feedback from HUD tenants. Their right to
organize and communicate common problems is essential to making our public housing system
fairer and more efficient.
"As you consider the comments received on these regulations,
please give careful consideration to the comments from the Delaware Housing Coalition and
the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. I believe a strong declaration and enforcement of a
tenant’s right to organize is needed because the Honorable Jack Kemp recognized the
problem of project owners and managers retaliating against tenant organizers when he
served as the HUD’s Secretary in 1989, yet problems remain. More clarity is
needed."
In Delaware there are over 70 multifamily and elderly developments
which have HUD project-based financing. More than two dozen of these have contracts with
HUD which are expiring in the next three years. Projects which have had their contracts
expire or which will have them expire soon are at risk of becoming private market
developments with significantly higher rents and no rent subsidy. The Delaware State Wide
Association of Tenants is organizing resident councils and holding community education
programs in the developments most at risk, to help tenants respond to the potential
changes to their developments.
We add our thanks to that of the residents of Banneker and Carvel for Congressman
Castle’s continuing support of affordable housing and, especially, for the
fundamental democratic right of residents to participate in and shape the fate of their
communities.