Word: rth
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...RTH had no experience with building any housing project, let alone one as ambitious as this one. It was only through Harvard's expertise that the residents managed to secure a $40-million mortgage from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, the largest home loan that the MHFA has ever offered. But because the project was profit-making (274 of 774 units were to be rented at the market rate), MHFA could go only 90 per cent of the project's cost. So the University bailed out the housing project by contacting banking connections unavailable to RTH, and put its credit...
...didn't come for free. When student support at Harvard for RTH dissipated and the tenant organization itself grew flabby and lost some of its fight as well as some of its more radical members, Harvard began to exact some concessions. In exchange for some of its earlier aid to the RTH dream homes, the University asked for one simple favor--RTH was not to come out against the total-energy power plant. In February of 1975, the residents agreed to the deal...
...understanding with RTH was only a paper agreement, not good enough to stand up to possible attacks by other Mission Hill residents, those living on the other side of Huntington Ave. The BRA might be sensitive to such protests when considering whether to give MASCO the go-ahead. The residents across the street would not benefit from the housing, but would share the pollution. What if these residents were to rally support in the community against the plant--visible, angry antagonisms that could burst out at the BRA's hearing on the project's building permit and jeopardize the plant...
...RTH staffers knew that inflation and an unsound bond market threatened to put the housing out of the financial grasp of the tenants. Harvard volunteered a plan where an estimated $300,000 in costs per year could be shaved off the project, just enough to put RTH over the top. It was a simple suggestion--but one that was difficult for RTH to refuse. Harvard offered to supply the housing project with free steam, chilled water, and cooling from its own power plant, thus inextricably linking the two. RTH accepted early this year. With that fait accompli, RTH...
...surprise that the RTH members, out in full force to protect their interests, voted in favor of the plant with an informal show of hands at the final hearing on the power plant. There was little choice--a vote against the power plant amounted to a vote against the Roxbury Tenants' hard-fought housing project...