HUD Report On Racial And Ethnic Harassment At Boston Housing Authority

Executive Summary

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is vested with responsibility for enforcing the Fair Housing Act and conducts investigations and, where appropriate, issues charges for violations of civil rights. In an affirmation of the government's commitment to put an end to discrimination of all kinds, including housing discrimination, President Clinton announced his One America Initiative in September 1997. The Initiative included an executive mandate to intensify HUD's enforcement efforts brought against perpetrators of housing discrimination, which remains a national problem. HUD's crackdown on housing discrimination opens up new housing opportunities to many, including families, minorities and people with disabilities, and helps ensure that harassment and violence based on these classifications is not tolerated in America's public housing.

Under the Fair Housing Act, HUD is obligated to investigate discrimination complaints received by the Department. HUD received a series of complaints regarding incidents at the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) which took place between 1992 and 1996. HUD conducted the required investigations, which revealed that prior to 1996 the BHA had failed to protect nine Black and Hispanic families formerly residing at its Old Colony and Charlestown developments from racially motivated harassment and violence. The Department found that Black and Hispanic residents were the subject of racial and ethnic harassment, including racial and ethnic epithets, assaults, threats, graffiti, and vandalism and that BHA failed to take corrective actions to address the harassment and to protect the residents. For example, BHA refused to grant a transfer to one Black family, even though BHA knew that the family had endured repeated harassment -- shots fired through the childrens' bedroom window, racially-motivated beatings, and verbal taunting with racial epithets by White youth. Based on these findings, the Department issued a Fair Housing Act systemic charge of racial and ethnic harassment in February 1999. At the same time that HUD issued the Fair Housing Act charge for the incidents occurring prior to 1996, Secretary Cuomo ordered a formal review of the Boston Housing Authority designed to assess BHA's progress since 1996. In 1996, BHA began a series of actions to address racial and ethnic harassment and violence, including the development of comprehensive Civil Rights Protection Plan.

HUD's intensive review focused on BHA's efforts to implement the Civil Rights Protection Plan, BHA's response to racial and ethnic incidents occurring on its property, and the current level of racial and ethnic harassment at BHA properties. The Department interviewed a total of 154 current and former BHA residents, as well as BHA housing managers, senior officials, and police officers; Boston Police Department officers; and 21 other Boston community members knowledgeable about BHA. The Department also conducted a limited scope audit of BHA's tenant selection, assignment, and transfer records.

GENERAL FINDINGS

HUD's intensive review revealed that since the adoption of the Civil Rights Protection Plan in 1996, BHA has made significant progress in improving its overall response to racial and ethnic harassment at BHA developments, and there has been a general reduction in the frequency of racial and ethnic harassment at certain developments. City and BHA leadership have made a genuine commitment to addressing these issues, and their efforts are noteworthy. Troubling problems, however, still persist in some areas. For example, the Charlestown development continues to experience high numbers of reports of racially-motivated crimes and bias incidents. The Boston Police Department reports a threefold increase in reported hate crimes at the Charlestown development from 1997 to 1998. HUD's review of BHA's 1998 Civil Rights Department files revealed that over 50% of the bias incidents reported to BHA occurred in two developments, Charlestown and Old Colony. HUD's review also revealed management issues which need to be addressed by BHA. Overall, HUD's review does not result in a systemic charge of racial and ethnic harassment for the period since 1996.

After analyzing the interviews, the relevant data, and the documents obtained from BHA, HUD developed 53 specific recommendations which build on the work BHA has already done. By adopting these recommendations and working in partnership with HUD, BHA can become a model for public housing nationwide.

The Boston Housing Authority's Actions to Strengthen BHA's Commitment to Furthering Fair Housing and Civil Rights

BHA has taken a series of steps to improve its commitment to fair housing and civil rights. These actions include:

• BHA drafted and is implementing a Civil Rights Protection Plan in its continuing efforts to safeguard the civil rights of its residents. The Civil Rights Protection Plan is a good model for managing racial and ethnic harassment in public housing developments. In many cases where BHA staff have followed its procedures and time frames, they have been successful in assisting residents and appropriately responding to civil rights complaints.
• Sandra Henriquez was hired to fill the position of its Administrator. During Ms. Henriquez's tenure, BHA has implemented the Civil Rights Protection Plan to promote fair housing in the present and to alleviate the effects of past segregation and discrimination which existed prior to her tenure. Ms. Henriquez's leadership has been a positive development.
• BHA conducted administrative inquiries into racially and ethnically motivated incidents which have occurred in its developments.
• BHA adopted and implemented a "zero tolerance" policy under which individuals who harass residents on the basis of race or ethnicity are evicted. BHA evicted offenders of racial violence and their families in four widely publicized cases in January, 1998.
• BHA formed a partnership with the Boston Police Department to facilitate reporting and investigation of bias crimes and incidents.
• BHA provided hate crime training for its employees.
• BHA instituted a mediation and diversity training program for residents and employees.
• BHA disciplined site managers who failed to follow the provisions of the Civil Rights Protection Plan.

Continuing Problems and Areas for Improvement

Despite the positive actions taken by BHA to address racial and ethnic harassment, problems remain. The findings of this report include the following areas which need to be addressed by BHA:

** Continuing reports of racial and ethnic harassment occurring at BHA developments.

• While there has been a general decline in reported racial and ethnic harassment at certain developments, these acts are still occurring at BHA developments, and there has actually been an increase in frequency at Charlestown. The incident report rates at Charlestown and Old Colony in particular are unacceptably high and require immediate action.
• According to Boston Police Department records, there was a threefold increase in reports of hate crimes at the Charlestown development from l997 to l998.
• At Charlestown and Old Colony, the management staff have not fully performed their duties and responsibilities as required under the Civil Rights Protection Plan. In identified cases, they have failed to meet required time frames for documentation of incidents and follow up; report incidents to the Boston Police; provide residents with required information; and hold timely private conferences.

Among the incidents of racial and ethnic violence reported in 1998 and 1999 are:

1) a White resident child kicked a Black resident child in the face and left two stuffed gorillas at the family's door with a note reading "black b*tch" (Old Colony); 2) two newspaper fires were started in a hallway near a Hispanic resident's door and "burn you sp*c" was written on the hallway wall (Old Colony); 3) a White resident called a Black school bus monitor who was on BHA property a "f*****g n****r" and spit in the monitor's face (West Broadway); 4) two Black residents beat a White resident with fists and a bottle (Old Colony); 5) a White resident threatened to attack a four year old Hispanic child with a pit bull and threatened the child's mother if she called the police again (Old Colony); and 6) a Black resident's visitor's car was smeared with dog feces and a swastika and "get outta here n****r" were written on the resident's mailbox (Charlestown).

It is important to note that each of these incidents is under investigation by the BHA according to provisions of the 1996 Civil Rights Protection Plan and the BHA reports that it plans to take appropriate action.

** Failure in some cases to follow Civil Rights Protection Plan procedures.

• HUD reviewed all 112 BHA Civil Rights Department (CRD) 1998 files and found that approximately 21 files were incomplete in some manner. Most instances were due to a site manager's failure to follow Civil Rights Protection Plan procedures. Currently, BHA does not have performance evaluation tools in place for its employees below the most senior level and does not have a mechanism for evaluating the performance of the site managers. BHA does not have an adequate tracking system to ensure that files are kept properly or that required time frames are met. The Department makes a number of recommendations for the Civil Rights Department to address this problem, including developing a computerized tracking system and implementation of performance evaluation tools, particularly for site managers.

** Communication of the provisions of the Civil Rights Protection Plan to BHA residents.

• Although most residents understand that they should report bias incidents to their site offices, the vast majority of the residents interviewed said they were not familiar with the Civil Rights Protection Plan and would like more information about their civil rights. Residents who filed complaints under the Civil Rights Protection Plan do not feel that they were adequately advised of their rights under the Civil Rights Protection Plan, how their complaints would be processed, and what remedies would be available. Although BHA has the demonstrated capacity to communicate with residents in many languages, BHA's communications about civil rights mostly occur in English. For example, the Department observed that the civil rights hotline is only advertised in English in the development offices. Few, if any, residents knew about or used the hotline to report incidents.

** Resident assignments and transfers.

• The limited scope audit of BHA's tenant selection, assignment, and transfer functions indicates that the waiting list and tenant assignment records are replete with errors. As a result, decisions about unit offers are often made in what appears to be an arbitrary manner. The absence of accurate records makes it difficult to establish that BHA has promoted nondiscriminatory housing opportunities at its developments.
• BHA's transfer process is cumbersome and not understood by residents and some staff. Civil rights related transfers are sometimes necessary as the only reasonable remedy for some acts of racial and ethnic harassment or violence. The transfer process has 35 steps and, although BHA is advertising for applicants for a Transfer Coordinator position, currently there is no individual responsible for overseeing this process and ensuring that transfer records are kept properly and time frames are met.

** Pet policy.

• A number of reported racial and ethnic incidents have involved vicious dogs. This problem has arisen, in part, because BHA does not have a well-developed or adequately enforced pet policy. Moreover, some residents believe that the race and ethnicity of the pet owner influences the enforcement of the policy.

** Lack of Openness in BHA Management

• BHA has not had a board of commissioners or public board meetings since the 1970s. The nine member Monitoring Committee has a very limited role in reviewing BHA's operations. Since its inception, the Monitoring Committee has had uneven or no input on BHA's operations and has not met on a regular basis for certain periods of its history. As a result, BHA does not have a working mechanism for public review and input.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

This report contains 53 recommendations for BHA action to build on the positive steps previously undertaken by the BHA. Section V of this report details the specific implementation steps for each of the following general recommendations. In the last three years BHA has made progress in addressing racial and ethnic harassment. If it adopts the recommendations in this report and is committed to their implementation, BHA can become a leader in the public housing industry.

HUD recommends, among other actions set out in detail in Section V, that the Boston Housing Authority:

A. Immediately terminate or transfer management and staff at the Old Colony and Charlestown development to address the management issues at these locations.

B. Settle or resolve all outstanding Fair Housing complaints and litigation involving racial and ethnic harassment so that it can focus its resources on implementing the recommendations in this report.

C. Reform the Civil Rights Department (for example, by increasing its staff), improve aspects of the Civil Rights Protection Plan and ensure that residents understand their rights under the Civil Rights Protection Plan and the law.

D. Improve security by increasing police patrols, recruiting a diverse pool of applicants, and enabling officers to live in or near the developments.

E. Fix basic personnel problems, including establishing a performance evaluation system for its employees and providing employees with civil rights training on an expedited basis.

F. Increase public review and participation in the governance of BHA including public meetings during which the Administrator and BHA department heads report on their progress in managing the housing authority.

G. Overhaul tenant selection, assignment, and transfer functions.

With the adoption of the Civil Rights Protection Plan, the City of Boston has made a significant effort to address racial and ethnic harassment that exists at BHA developments. HUD's intensive review, however, demonstrates that there is still work to be done. Success in addressing these issues will require serious efforts by the City, BHA, residents, and the federal government. For its part, HUD is making a strong commitment to assist the Boston Housing Authority to alleviate racial and ethnic tensions at BHA. Upon agreement by the Boston Housing Authority to implement the recommendations in this Report, HUD will, among other actions, create and fund a Racial Reconciliation program through the Civil Rights Leadership Conference Education Fund to establish an educational program to ease tensions in affected neighborhoods, and fund the Harvard Mediation Project to provide mediation services to address racial and ethnic tension.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................i

TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................viii

LIST OF ACRONYMS..........................................................................................xi

I. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1

II. CURRENT RACIAL AND ETHNIC HARASSMENT AT BHA...........................3

A. Background: The History of Tensions in the 1990's..............................3

B. Since 1996: An Overall Decline in Hate Crimes, But Continuing Problems at Certain Developments ...........................................................4
1. HUD's Review of BHA's Recent Performance............................4
2. Boston Police Department Statistics...........................................5
3. Bias Crimes Committed at BHA Since HUD's Systemic Charge.............................................................................................5
4. Bias Crimes and Other Incidents Reported Pursuant to the Provisions of the Civil Rights Protection Plan..................................6

III. BHA'S PROGRESS........................................................................................8

A. Desegregation Efforts...........................................................................8

B. Establishment of the Civil Rights Protection Plan.................................9

C. Elements of the Civil Rights Protection Plan.........................................9
1. Reporting and Investigation of Civil Rights Incidents..................9
2. Records.....................................................................................10
3. Transfer Requests....................................................................10
4. Notice to Residents and Employee Training.............................10
5. Graffiti Removal........................................................................10

D. Zero Tolerance Policy.........................................................................11

E. Cooperation with the Boston Police Department................................12
1. BHA Police and Boston Police Department Partnership and Responsibilities..............................................................................12
2. Crime Reports and Investigations.............................................12
3. Activity of BHA Police...............................................................13

F. Racially and Ethnically Offensive Graffiti.............................................13

IV. AREAS WHERE FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS ARE NEEDED TO ADDRESS RACIAL AND ETHNIC HARASSMENT............................................15

A. Education for Residents......................................................................15

B. Education for Employees....................................................................16

C. Training for Residents and Employees...............................................16

D. The Civil Rights Department...............................................................17
1. Roles and Responsibilities........................................................17
2. Compliance with CRPP Procedures.........................................18
3. CRD Records............................................................................19
4. Remedies Provided to Victims of Harassment..........................19

E. The Occupancy Department...............................................................20
1. Functions and Management.....................................................20
2. BHA's Waiting List....................................................................20
3. Transfer Procedures.................................................................20

F. Responsibilities of Site Managers under the CRPP............................22

V. RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................24

A. BHA should immediately address the management failures at Old Colony and Charlestown..........................................................................24

B. BHA should take immediate steps to resolve all outstanding Fair Housing complaints and litigation involving racial and ethnic harassment so that it can focus its resources on implementing the recommendations in this report.................................................................................................25

C. BHA should enhance its Civil Rights Department, modify aspects of the CRPP and communicate with its residents about their civil rights......25

D. BHA should address several police and security issues.....................27

E. BHA should address basic personnel issues, including establishing a performance evaluation system for its employees and providing employees with civil rights training on an expedited basis.......................28

F. BHA should take steps to increase public review and participation in the governance of BHA including public meetings during which the Administrator and BHA department heads report on their progress in managing the housing authority...............................................................30

G. BHA should take steps to maximize the impact of the Department's Community Tensions reduction pilot project in the City of Boston funded by the Secretary under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program...................30

H. BHA should immediately undertake comprehensive reforms of its Occupancy functions................................................................................30

VI. Partnership Opportunities.............................................................................31

VII. Conclusion...................................................................................................31

APPENDIX A.......................................................................................................32
List of Interviews.......................................................................................32
Summary of On-Site Reviews..................................................................34
Charlestown...................................................................................34
Commonwealth..............................................................................37
Faneuil...........................................................................................37
Franklin Field.................................................................................39
Mary Ellen McCormack..................................................................40
Maverick Gardens..........................................................................41
Mission Hill.....................................................................................41
Old Colony.....................................................................................43
Orient Heights................................................................................45
West Broadway..............................................................................46

APPENDIX B.......................................................................................................48
The Boston Housing Authority's Organizational Structure........................48

APPENDIX C
Limited Tenant Selection, Assignment, and Transfer Audit

LIST OF ACRONYMS

BHA		Boston Housing Authority

BPD		Boston Police Department

CDU		BPD's Community Disorders Unit

CRARF	BHA's Civil Rights Administrative Report Form

CRD		BHA's Civil Rights Division

CRPP	BHA's Civil Rights Protection Plan

ETR		BHA's Emergency Transfer Request

FHIP		HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program

HUD		U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

MCAD	Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination

MIS		BHA's Occupancy Department's Management Information System
		  Housing Eligibility Database

MOU		Memorandum of Understanding

PHMAP	Public Housing Management Assessment Program

TRC		BHA's Transfer Review Committee

TSAP	BHA's Tenant Selection and Assignment Plan

Content Archived: January 20, 2009