Somerville Alderman ask the Somerville Human Rights Commission to investigate the complaints of Clarendon Hill Towers residents. – Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Harry Kane

A resolution passed during the Board of Aldermen meeting on May 9, which will ask the Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints of unlawful treatment, discrimination and harassment of tenants by the management of the Clarendon Hill Towers.

Clarendon Hill Towers is a housing complex located at 1374 Broadway in West Somerville. There are 501 apartments at the complex and roughly 50 percent of the residents are elderly. Despite repeated attempts to contact Clarendon Hill Towers, management declined to comment regarding the recent complaints.

“This has been an ongoing issue for some time,” said Ward 7 Alderman Robert Trane. “A week doesn’t go by where I don’t get a phone call of some sort of complaint.” Trane cannot even believe some of the allegations coming from tenants, but the more he looks into the continued concerns of the residents, the more he finds there is a “grain of truth to it.”

Trane says that an independent group needs to investigate the complaints. The rest of the aldermen joined Trane in asking the Somerville Human Rights Commission to investigate the complaints. The hope is to protect and serve the constitutional, civil and human rights of the people in the city, explained Trane.

According to Trane, he has heard complaints that include harassment, intimidation and vandalism. “It goes on and on and on,” said Trane. During a recent deposition concerning a lawsuit for a tenant that used to live at Clarendon Hill Towers, Trane said he found out that some 20 to 30 residents are allegedly evicted every month. “I almost fell off my chair when I heard that number,” said Trane.