NHA board chairmanresponds to tenant issues

I am writing to respond to some of the points made in the article on Hampshire Heights (“Tenants irked by NHA crackdown on outside items, gardens,” June 20).

To start, the Northampton Housing Authority believes in and promotes tenant gardens. As a board we routinely allocate money for tenants to use on community gardens or flower beds. In conversation with NHA staff, I have been assured that no in ground gardens will be uprooted. They help beautify the grounds.

The primary concern was with all the others things that tended to pile up: mattresses, old couches, shopping carts, etc.

I have always found the executive director to be accessible. She often works 12-hour days. She returns phone calls. It is part of her job.

It is not and will not become the policy of the NHA to terminate a lease because a tenant voices an opinion. We have a process for dealing with tenant issues relying on just cause for any termination of a lease and eviction.

Undoubtedly the authority has work to do to keep communicating a community culture at Hampshire Heights. We, as a board, welcome input. There has been no mention of garden issues at monthly board meetings.

One of my goals for the board is to have tenant organizations at all our locations. We do not as yet have a fully functioning tenant organization at Hampshire Heights. I think the article has identified some core candidates to, as Edgar Cancel remarked, “talk to us as a community.”

Jeffrey Jones

Northampton

The writer is chairman of the Northampton Housing Authority board of commissioners.

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