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Above is a video of the Daily Hampshire Gazette sponsored Northampton Mayoral debate held recently at JFK Middle School in Florence courtesy North Street Neighborhood Association.
A new front was opened by Mayoral Candidate Michael Bardsley when he was given an opportunity to ask the incumbent Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins a question. During this segment at 72 minutes into the debate Bardsley asked Higgins about the Northampton Housing Authority and charges of racism going back four years.
At a recent forum, he said, a major concern raised are issues of policies and practices regarding the city's affordable housing. He said issues of racism and discrimination related to the Northampton Housing Authority were raised. The Executive Director of the NHA is Jon Hite. Bardsley asked Higgins for her response and whether or not she would support a full scale investigation into these concerns. Higgins agreed the allegations brought up were disturbing and said she is in the process of exploring exactly what is going on there. She said it may be that it warrants a full scale investigation-that remains to be seen. She added that we always have to improve how we're managing the (housing) stock. Bardsley responded that this is a call to action and he said according to testimony this has been going on for a least four years.
As Bardsley spoke he briefly held in his hands a report from Casa Latina, Inc. from September 2009 entitled, Working For Change. Latino Agenda 2008/10, Hampshire County. The following are excerpts:
Security: The security of our elders concern(s) us a lot. In the housing complex w(h)ere elderly people live, housing is also offered to people recuperating from drug and alcohol abuse. Most of the time there isn't enough supervision in these complexes, which leads to conflict between tenants with different lifestyles and needs. This causes emotional problems to the Latino elderly, which also leads to negative health outcomes. We want to emphasize this point because we believe the elderly should have a right to a safe and calm environment. They are isolated and thus their homes are of great importance. At this stage in life the elderly are seeking good health and well-being.
At a local level
- Preventative rounds
- Security guards
- Better access control to residents and their visitors
- Evaluation process to accept applications
- Eliminate residents in transition in complexes that houses the elderly
At a state and federal level
- More personnel and better pay
- Revise laws
- Evaluation of the department personnel
- More money
- More investigation
Racism and discrimination: Our residents have had many experiences of discrimination when receiving housing services. These experiences have taken place while completing the application, when asking to be transferred to a different unit, or when a person appeals a decision that the department has made. Our residents have felt that (they) haven't been given the opportunity to clarify their situations. They feel that they haven't received the respect they deserve by not being given the proper follow up that the department claims to offer. They state that they're given appointments, but when they attend, the housing personnel they're supposed to meet with are not present. The following are the participants' suggestions on how to fight racism and discrimination within the department of housing.
At a local level:
- Training against racism and discrimination for personnel, better understanding of cultural diversity
- More Spanish-speaking personnel
- Stop stereotypes towards Latinos, not judge all as equal
At a state and federal level:
- Better appeal system so that people have a better opportunity to defend their case when the application is denied
- Spanish speaking employees
- Training against racism and discrimination
