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Tenants and advocates urge passage of bill to prevent bullying in senior and disabled housing
Summary
Advocates, tenants and legislators told the committee that bullying, mobbing and harassment in public and subsidized housing harm residents’ health and that a bill creating prevention plans, training and a model response overseen by the attorney general’s office would fill an enforcement gap.
Senator Joan Lovely and a coalition of tenants, advocates and former commissioners described years of systemic harassment in state‑aided and public housing and urged the Joint Committee on Housing to advance legislation to require prevention and response plans for bullying and mobbing in elderly and disabled housing.
Senator Lovely (testifying earlier in the hearing as sponsor of S‑1007) and others told the committee the problem is widespread. Jerry Halberstadt, coordinator of the Stop Bullying Coalition, urged passage and said the legislation should be strengthened to include oversight and accountability for subsidized and public housing providers; he recommended an office of the tenant advocate in the Attorney General’s Office to ensure enforcement and tenant remedies.
Michael Caine of the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants said the bill — drafted after a 2017 commission on bullying that included tenant input — would be “the first in the country” to address institutional bullying in senior housing, if enacted. He described the bill’s key features as requiring housing providers to adopt building‑specific plans, staff training, and a model plan prepared by the Attorney General’s civil rights division.
Multiple tenants recounted long periods of harassment by managers and other residents. Donna Lee, a tenant at Apple Village in Beverly, said she had been “taunted, harassed, emotionally abused, and continuously bullied for the past 4 years by management and a mob of residents created by them” and said she faced eviction after raising complaints. Violet Cook said the pressure had taken a physical and emotional toll.
Witnesses asked for amendments to ensure stronger oversight and enforcement mechanisms and for the committee to work with the Attorney General to clarify administrative responsibilities. Committee chairs accepted the testimony and requested additional materials; the bills remain in committee with prior favorable reports in earlier sessions noted by witnesses.
