Tenants Say Public Housing In Bad Shape

"We still have the same problems as when we moved in three years ago. We moved !in with mud up to öur ankles." That comment by Lottie M. Hall, secretary of the Ann Arbor Public Housing Tenants Organization, summed up a three-hour meeting Tuesday night in which public housing tenants presented their views of problems confronting the city's Housing Commission. The meeting was called by the Tenants Organization. About 50 tenants and three of the five Housing Commission members attended. Most of' the meeting was devoted to viewing and discussing a film illustrating cracked and leaking basement walls, backed-up storm drains and soil erosión at the four largest local public housing sites. In addition, the Tenants Organization executive board read a petition to Mayor Robert J. Harris, requesting the removal of Vanell Williams - who was absent last night - from the Housing Commission. At one point in the discussion of structural problems portrayed in the film, Lafayette Wilson of the Tenants Organization board made the observation that "some tenants capitalize on the problems." Mrs.Hall pointed out emphatically that the concept of a rent strike has "never" been endorsed by the Tenants Organization. But a p p r o x: imately $26,000 of the Housing Commission's potential $115,000 operating deficit is accounted for by back-rent due from some current and past tenants. Earlier Tuesday, five of 44 public housing tenants who received eviction warnings this month appeared before District Judge Pieter G. V. Thomassen. One, owing $1,200 in back rent, was ordered to pay within 10 days or be evicted. Judgment was delayed for one, owing about $400, and will be waived if the .tenant makes firm ments within a week to pay overdue' and current rent plus court costs. T w o of the s u i t s were dropped when arrangements were agreed to for paying back rent, and the fifth was adjourned to permit time for making payment arrangements, Chief Assistant City Atty. R. Bruce Laidlaw reports. He adds that eviction writs have been issued against two public housing tenants on whom judgments were previously obtained. One of these also is liable for building damages. The requests for repairs made by the tenants who spoke at last night's meeting received support in a letter issued at the meeting by the Peace Neighborhood Center i steering committee - a group of northwest Ann Arbor residents - urging City Council to spend at least $120,000 in federal revenue sharing money "to landscape and grade the public housing sites." Housing Commission Chair' man Elizabeth D. B a r 1 o w pointed out, as previously I reported, that the commission j intends to seek "modernization funds" foir the site work from the U.S. Housing and! Urban Development j ment (HUD). She said at j least $140,000 will be needed, i and reiterated the commission's intention to ask City I Council for whatever portion HUD does not p r o v i d e . However, she added that the application for HUD "modernizatiort" funds cannot be submitted until the commission completes overdue paperwork related to construction of the housing units. "No amount of pressure can : make us work any harder orï fastar than we are," Mrs. Barlow declared. The petition by the Tenants Organization board asking Mayor Harris to request Mrs. Williams' resignation from the Housing Commission complains of frequent absences from commission meetings, and alleged failure to consult with tenants. The Tenants Organization says it expected consultation because Mrs. Williams is a tenant. (In 1969, Mayor Harris requested and obtained the resignation of a Housing Commission member.) From the audience, the I comment i'Why ask just one commissioner to resign? I feel that you need a whole new commission," was made by Demaris Booker of the local Legal Aid Clinic. She contended that the Housing Commission is insensitive to individual budget problems of public housing tenants, although adding "they must pay the money (over due rent) back.' The 10-member Tenants Or ganization board applaudeci but did not discuss her cómment. Commission Vice Chairman Stephen Burghardt and Commissioner Theodore R. Meadows, both appointed less than a year ago, spoke briefly. Burghardt said the Tenants Organization had not previously made the extent of maintenance problems clear to him. He added: "There is a difference betw.een the way past Housing Commissions have been and the way some of us in the past few months have tried to deal with problems. . . I think this is going to be a real beginning of what a Housing Commission should be - a real together tenants association, a combination the commission hásn't seen before." Meadows termed the film on building and site problems - prepared by Robert T. Brown of the Housing Commission staff - "a beautiful program" illustrating situations he has seen. "We need a strong tenants organization," Meadows added. "You have clout, whether you know it or not. All commissioners should listen to you."