by Lori Frankian

On March 14 City Councilors Michael P. Ross and Rob Consalvo convened a public hearing at the Susan Bailis Assisted Living Center on Mass Ave at St. Botolph Street. Prior to the hearing, a well-organized group of over 40 people marched from the Edgerly Road Playground in the East Fens down Mass Ave to the Bailis Center, carrying colorful signs and chanting: “Shame on you Bill Kargman”, “Help us Keep the Fenway Affordable for the Long Term” and “Don’t let Bill Kargman convert subsidized homes in the Fenway to market rate!”

Bill Kargman and his family own First Realty Management (FRM), which in turn owns the Burbank Apartments, a collection of buildings in the East Fens with a total of 173 units. The Kargmans’ decision to withdraw from a federal program that helped pay for their purchase of the apartments and kept rents at lowe levels for tenants sparked the march and the City Council hearing.

The hearing began with four panels: one with members of the Burbank Apartments Tenant Association (BATA); a second with Fenway residents; a third with experts on fair housing (laws that ensure equal access to housing to all Americans, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap); and a fourth on expiring use and affordable housing. With every seat in the meeting room taken, people of all ages and capabilities lined the back wall, sat on the floor attentively listening to each panelist, and spilled out the doors at the back of the room.

The Kargman family purchased Burbank Apartments in March 1970 with a mortgage of nearly $3 million. For 40 years, the Kargmans greatly benefited from the subsidized housing program, financed by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Last year Kargman, announced that he planned to opt out of the project-based Section 8 program that had helped FRM purchase the apartments in the first place and had kept rents affordable to working tenants. This decision would convert all 173 units—nearly 10% of all affordable housing in the Fenway—into market-rate rentals. The current agreement ran out at the end of March. When tenants complained that significant rent hikes would force many to move, Kargman’s answer was to offer “enhanced vouchers” (through a HUD program) for any tenant who qualified. This still left many tenants facing a doubling or more of their rents and even the “qualified” tenants facing future disruption if they lost a job. With this jarring news, tenants started organizing.

In a September 2010 interview, Kargman told The Fenway News that, “what we are trying to do is provide a subsidy to everyone that is eligible. We’ve done this in other properties and have had good results. We feel that we are protecting all of our tenants in this process.” Kargman also stated that, “the owners have worked with HUD to provide housing to people with subsidies since 1971, and will continue to do so.”

Kargman argues that the enhanced vouchers will solve the problem for his tenants. However, the National Law Housing Law Project states that “enhanced vouchers may require some tenants to pay a higher proportion of their income in rent.” Another important detail is that the subsidies expire when current tenants move out of these units, turning the units over to market rate.

At the hearing, “everyone has a story to tell” as City Councilor Ayanna Pressley put it. Panelists and community members who spoke during an “open mic” session did share personal stories, appealing to the councilors at the hearing—Ross, Consalvo, Pressley, and Felix Arroyo. Attendees seemed cautiously hopeful and even more empowered to continue their fight.

Panelist Conrad Ciszek, one of the organizers of BATA, has a wealth of knowledge after a year spent researching his rights. “Bill Kargman, in his repeated statements, keeps arguing that there is nothing to worry about and the enhanced vouchers are a prime solution.” According to material from the National Law Housing Law Project, Ciszek said, “tenants who are deemed eligible may risk loss of their voucher if their household or income changes. As enhanced vouchers are more expensive than regular vouchers, they are more of a target for cuts in funding—thus, the outcome is clear, affordable housing in the Fenway will be reduced.”

Sheila Dillon, Mayor Menino’s advisor on housing, provided some necessary context: “Of the 908 affordable apartments in Boston lost permanently over the past five years, 896 were properties owned by William Kargman”. These include High Point Village in Roslindale, Camelot Court in Brighton and Brandywine Apartments in East Boston. Ms. Dillon continued, “it is very, very hard to create new affordable units.”

Michael Stone, professor of community planning and public policy at the University of Massachusetts, cited results from a colleague’s study, “The loss of the project-based Section 8 subsidies at Burbank Apartments will also have a disparate impact on the ability of people of color, seniors, families, and people with disabilities to afford to live at Burbank Apartments.” After conversion to market rate, “less than one-fifth (19%) of households of color (with 2-4 persons) would be able to afford a two-bedroom unit at Burbank, compared with over half (52%) of white, non-Latino households.”

Stone pointed out that “if the rents charged at Burbank Apartments are permitted to be set by the speculative market, housing opportunities for low-income Boston residents will be further reduced. And Boston will become even more segregated.”

On another panel, FCDC Board President Joanne McKenna said that “The thought of losing this diversity is heart-rending to me. This is about the long-term affordability of the neighborhood and the city—we don’t want a neighborhood that working people can’t afford.” Dharmena Downey, FCDC executive director, said she believes that “the need to produce and preserve affordable housing has never been greater. Twenty-five percent, or 30 million, American households face severe housing challenges. We’re not talking only about the poorest among us or those without jobs, but also teachers, clergy, librarians, firefighters, health-care workers, and many others who make significant contributions to our community.”

On March 25 Councilor Ross shared his thoughts on the lack of positive progress to that point: “I am sad to see no compromise on the part of the owners, even after so much compelling testimony at the recent City Council hearing….I hope that the owners of the building will still come to the table with residents to work out a deal that will preserve this valuable resource in our city.”

On March 29, Associate Justice Jeffrey M. Winik, a judge in the Boston Housing Court, handed down a decision in Burbank Apartments Tenants Association v. Landlord, William Kargman. BATA’s lawyers had asked him to enjoin FRM from beginning to charge market rents while a lawsuit was heard. Sarah Horsely, FCDC’s director of civic engagement, has been working with the BATA tenants. She returned from court with disappointing news: “The judge did not grant the injunction to maintain the project-based Section 8 program while the main lawsuit proceeds.”

Since Kargman refused to work out a settlement, as the lawsuit continues in federal court all Burbank Apartment units will begin renting at market rates, except for those where tenants are eligible for enhanced vouchers. “For the longer term,” Horsely says, “we can join the efforts of Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants to get the home rule petition [a proposed law that would give the city stronger tools for intervening in situations like the one at Burbank Apartments] passed by the Mass state legislature. And in the even longer term and bigger picture, we are joining the thousands of people across the U.S .and the world who are demanding that society prioritize people’s needs over greed.”

Lori Frankian lives in the West Fenway.

This article also appeared in the April 2011 print edition of the Fenway News.  Image:  Boston City Councilors Ayanna Presley, Rob Consalvo, and Mike Ross  ponder the future of affordable housing in the Fenway; photographer is Steve Wolf.