Mass. Union of Public Housing Tenants'

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News and Updates

THE CHAIRMAN’S CORNER
   By William H. King

We are mandated to pull together in 2010; every one of us is an important aspect of life in the Public Housing arena. It’s time to let the Public Housing Agencies know that we residents are not just a pawn on the chess board to draw subsidized operating funding, to pay well to do positions for persons other then public housing services. Together we can prevail and block the bureaucratic machines that totally ignore tenant’s rights and meaningful process as regulated and often ignored.

The Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants, the state-wide resident organization, is working well with state agencies on a regular basis to put forth the rights of public housing tenants. Presently, there is a process in place to implement fair and just federal and state public housing methods allowing residents to take a more active role in the implementation of our rights and quality of life.
Remember the old mouse story? “Pulling together is the only way not to break the links in the chain of progress.” What is the mouse story?

One day the mouse, who had not made it into Public Housing, lived in a drafty old farm house. The mouse noticed a trap that the farmer’s wife set up in the house. The mouse proclaimed a warning and shouted to all that there was a mousetrap in the house. The chicken said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but this is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.” The pig sympathized but said “there is nothing I can do about it but pray.”  The cow said, “Wow Mr. Mouse,
I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin of my nose.” The mouse felt rejected and down. He knew he had to face the farmers trap alone. 

During the night the mouse heard the trap snap and went to see what it had caught. The trap had caught the tail of a very venomous snake who bit the farmer’s wife as she investigated what was in the trap. The farmer rushed her to the hospital but she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer used the chicken for the soups main ingredients. The wife’s sickness continued and friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. The farmer had to feed them so he butchered the pig. She did not get well and soon died. So many caring people came to the funeral; the farmer had to slaughter the cow to feed them. The mouse looked on with great sadness.

Therefore; don’t think the mouse’s problems don’t concern you, next time the mouse may be Public Housing, when threatened, we are all at risk.