On March 17 accusatory statements were posted on Gazette’s online Talkback alleging abuse and discrimination of mentally retarded residents at Meadowbrook Apartments in Florence, Mass. and that Northampton’s Mayor Mary Clare Higgins has been made aware of it and is doing nothing. I posted my telephone number and was called and invited out to the complex. After visiting I wrote a report and posted it on Northampton Redoubt including with it some photographs.
Upon calling Meadowbrook’s management office for answers, none of the personnel I spoke with would respond to the allegations but did give me a telephone number for Meadowbrook’s owner Preservation of Affordable Housing of Boston (POAH) so I called and left a message on Communications Manager Karen Blomquist’s voicemail. Meadowbrook’s Property Manager Andrell Yarbrough requested a copy of the report and I complied. Since then no one from POAH or Meadowbrook has contacted me.
Tenants presented me evidence that Higgins’ office was informed last fall via email of the plight of a Mass. Department of Mental Health client who was having problems with the heat in a unit, and alleged there was no direct response or assistance forthcoming from her office. A complaint was filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and was dismissed after Meadowbrook addressed the issue, though not addressed by MCAD was allegations of retaliation said tenants. Additional evidence exists that Higgins’ office was contacted other times regarding deteriorating living conditions at the complex and according to residents she failed to involve herself in the ongoing turmoil. There is evidence that other officials have been contacted regarding living conditions at Meadowbrook as well.
Copies of Police reports shown me reveal 1,260 calls from January 2005 to November 2006 were logged or fourteen calls per week. Additionally, five apartments were flooded with raw sewage in September 2005 and remain vacant today. A recent Gazette report states a health-threatening mold was discovered causing tenants to relocate. A near fatal shooting occurred during a home invasion and robbery last July. Tenants allege that adequate snow removal in parking lots and sidewalks after storms is an ongoing problem complicated by a confusing parking policy, as there are no assigned spaces. They assert that an estimated 52 outdoor-lighting fixtures are not functioning or are missing and handicap-parking areas are not properly marked or maintained. Residents in some apartments have reported inconsistent heating, arbitrary apartment inspections, and they seem to have a persistent fear of retaliation for speaking out. Allegations include harassment and targeting of residents by management and staff, illegal tenancies, as well as the existence of a rampant drug trade.
It is apparent that the Northampton community needs to take a closer look at Meadowbrook’s inner workings, as children are often not allowed by parents to roam outdoors at the complex due to allegations and unofficial reports of sex offenders living on the grounds. An October 2005 Mass. Housing Inspection report stated 138 out of 388 residents, or 35.6%, were age 17 or younger. With the exception of when the swimming pool is open, when visiting Meadowbrook I seldom observe more than a few children outdoors at any given time and am struck by the stillness of a complex housing so many. Of 192 units classified as Section 236 Housing under the National Housing Act of 1934, women headed 139 or 72.4% of them and females comprise 60.8% of the overall population, based on that same report.
Residentially similar in scope to the former Northampton State Hospital redevelopment plan that’s frequently mentioned in the press, Meadowbrook residents form a sub community in Northampton whose members reside in relative obscurity. Generally the only time Meadowbrook is mentioned is when a public official takes credit for preserving its affordable status or by reading the entries published in Police logs under 491 Bridge Road.
The publicly subsidized Florence housing complex is managed by Preservation Housing Management of Kansas City, Missouri, is assessed for about $16 million, and is called home by an estimated 400 people living in 252 units. 222 of them are classified as affordable comprising 18% of Northampton’s affordable housing stock according to a 2005 Gazette report published when a $4 million renovation was completed. This many units allows Northampton to remain above the 10% threshold for affordable housing as required by the commonwealth and therefore to retain design control over ongoing housing development in the city. Thus Meadowbrook’s affordable housing units enhance Northampton property values by allowing for the creation of aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods elsewhere; that is the ironic contribution residents of Meadowbrook make to the community. Perhaps they have finally found their niche.
