Clarendon Hill Towers is a
federally-subsidized housing complex located at 1366 Broadway in
Somerville, and is the largest housing provider in the city. The
building has been tenant-owned since 1990, when a bill in Congress
helped them raise the necessary $25 million in order to keep the rent
affordable for its residents.

In recent years, however, the
complex's three high-rise towers have fallen into disrepair. "The
development was in danger of foreclosure if its financial and physical
condition was not restored" MassHousing said in a press release issued
last Tuesday. Michael Etchu, who has been the president of the CHTTA
since early 2008, confirmed this statement, and added that the building
had failed state inspection for the past five years.

Mr.
Etchu, attributes the state of the complex to the property's management
company, the Cornerstone Corporation, which he says has failed to
repair structural problems with the buildings.

After going
door-to-door to inspect each of the complex's 501 apartments, Mr. Etchu
documented serious problems in over half of them, including broken
kitchen appliances, cracked walls, and faulty plumbing. He says that
the management company is largely unresponsive to tenants' needs,
including his own.

"It's a disgrace," said Mr. Etchu.
"Thirty-four percent of our $8.1 million budget goes to the management
company. If we still have to live with rats and cockroaches, our money
is not being well spent" he said, questioning how shrewdly the
management company was spending the money.

Another priority of
the tenants' association, which is comprised of 15 residents of the
towers, is to make changes that would stem vandalism and drug usage on
the premises. Mr. Etchu says that these efforts require cooperation of
the management company, which they have not had.

According to
Mr. Etchu, the management company cut the number of overnight hours
that security officers were on duty without the tenants' association
approval, and requests for repairs to the video security system also
were ignored. Mr. Etchu and his board have initiated changes themselves
in recent months, including replacing video cameras and restoring the
security officers' overnight hours. He says this has already helped to
reduce the incidents of vandalism at Clarendon Hill in recent months.

"I realized that no management company could repair Clarendon Hill's condition," he said, "so I went looking for an investor."

He
negotiated a partnership with Connolly and Partners LLC, which develops
mixed-income and affordable housing, and they then went after
investors. They were able to secure the $23.3 million loan from
MassHousing, and will be applying for a $2 million state grant that is
available to large, urban residences.

In the upcoming months,
the partnership will begin accepting bids from new management
companies. Whichever company wins the bid will have to adhere to a set
of tenets drafted by the tenant's association. According to Mr. Etchu,
these will include requirements that the company work with them to
reduce vandalism and drug dealing on the premises.

In order to
ensure that the new management company is a responsive and cooperative
partner in "reviving the vibrant community at Clarendon Hill," Mr.
Etchu says that he "will not be handing out any long term contracts."

Mr.
Etchu, who has a masters degree in business strategy, also spoke about
the need to get "business-minded" individuals in to manage the
property, saying the next property manager must have a business degree.

Mr.
Etchu says that the Towers' residents have seen drafts of the planned
renovations, and that they are very excited about the changes.