Rent increase forces Mayo tenants to protest

Serghino René

A 17 percent rent increase doesn’t sound like much these days in Boston. But Alice Stroud of Mattapan said that an additional $140 to her monthly rent of $800 was just too much to bear.

So she refused to sign a new lease as a way of protest. Sure enough, the Mayo Group, the privately owned property management and development company that boasts of owning and operating 2,600 residential apartments, including the one in Mattapan that Stroud rents, did what most landlords would do in that situation.

They sent Stroud an eviction notice. She has until July 1 to leave. But Stroud has different plans.

“I’m staying and I’m going to keep on protesting,” she said.

Stroud was just one of the many protesting last weekend against what they considered Mayo’s unfair rent hikes. Standing near the Haley House in Dudley Square, protestors demanded the right to negotiate multi-year collective bargaining contracts to protect them from large rent increases and unjust evictions.

But the Mayo Group is not hearing any of those demands. Taran Grigsby, general counsel for the Mayo Group, says the situation is more straightforward than it looks.

“A movement is being made to reintroduce rent control into the city of Boston,” says Grisby.

Exaggerated or not, one thing is clear. On May 31, over 20 tenant leaders, from the various Mayo Group complexes, were given eviction notices for allegedly insisting on negotiating a fair rent increase.

“This is union busting,” said Mark Meechum of the nonprofit organization City Life/ Vida Urbana. “We are here to fight against unjust evictions for profit. We are here to fight for collective bargaining.”

Many of these residents have lived in their homes for 20 to 30 years, like Eddy Nicaissa of Hyde Park.

“I’ve been living here for 26 years,” said Nicaissa. “I’m not going to move. It’s not right.”

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner gave his support at the event saying, “We need to give strength and support those who struggle. The only way to move the struggle forward is to organize.”

Meechum said that residents and members of various tenant associations have made attempts to negotiate a number of times. Residents in 14 Mayo buildings have sought negotiations, but the Mayo Group refuses to talk or consider their proposals.

Meechum says, “We’re fighting for a radical idea that should not be radical. We are ordinary people who work hard and deserve benefits. “

However, Grisby says, the Mayo Group has worked with, and even signed, collective bargaining agreements before and time has shown that they do not work. Grisby explains that if there are two separate two-bedroom apartments, one with a family of four making $35,000 and the other with one person making $50,000, it doesn’t make sense to make the family of four pay the same amount as the person living alone.

“We do our best to work with the individual because rent is an individual issue,” says Grisby. “Collective bargaining makes sense when you’re talking about auto insurance.”

In order to raise rent, the Mayo Group is required by law to send a 30-day notice. If a person hasn’t signed the letter they have to go through a formal process that ultimately ends up in court where a final determination is made.

“I’ve been in the business for quite a while,” says Grisby. “Out of say 10 cases, 1 to 2 of them may end in eviction. If someone says they are being evicted right now, it’s not true. The eviction process takes 6-8 weeks.”