“There are prejudiced people living in America,” she says, “who abuse some other people’s rights.”

She seems younger than her age, particularly among the residents of 273 Harvard Street, many of whom she says “need assistance... they can’t live independently.

“If you didn’t have mismanagement by CASCAP, and the abusive people, it would be a good place to live.”

Iona Jones came to Cambridge in 1974, joining her sister and brother-in-law who were students at Harvard University. Until 2003, she lived at 95 Prescott Street.

Harvard bought that building around 1979. After rent control was removed, the rent went right up and Ms Jones needed a Section 8 to pay it.

But in its 2001 inspection, the Cambridge Housing Authority found that the apartment was “dilapidated,” and cut off the Section 8 payment to Harvard. Harvard had other plans for the apartment anyway, so Iona Jones had to go live in the Central Square YWCA.

It was not easy to live there. There was a lot of conflict among tenants and management was incompetent. After a year, with the help of HomeStart, she was able to move to 273 Harvard Street.

But after she signed the lease, Ms Jones noticed that her new apartment had ants, and complained to Inspectional Services. The ants were exterminated after she paid the rent. After she moved in, she found other problems, such as violations of the City’s smoking ordinance, and malfunctions of the emergency lighting during NSTAR’s frequent power failures. She continued to complain.

After that, he CASCAP management “had a grudge” against her. They wanted to exterminate her apartment again, and they weren’t happy when she produced doctors’ documentation of allergies. When she reported conflicts with other tenants, CASCAP blamed her for them.

Management moved to evict her, denying her allegations that people were prejudiced against her because she was Indian. They actually cited her complaints as cause for eviction. “They have to accept tenants rights,” Ms Jones says.

She says that she approached a number of politicians. Michael Sullivan and Alice Wolf were responsive.

Won’t sign away rights

Ms Jones’ advocates at CEOC and Legal Aid tried to get her to sign an agreement for judgement to settle the eviction case. She would not sign an agreement which she felt “takes away my right to freedom of speech.”

CASCAP and Legal Aid attorneys insist that other tenants sign such agreements. But Iona Jones says, “There are tenants who have signed away their rights. I’m not one of them.” She believes that the attorneys and advocates may have a conflict of interest in representing tenants of nonprofits. In fact, the boards of directors of the various agencies do overlap.

In June, Ms Jones filed a complaint against CASCAP at the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) on the ground of discrimination based on her Indian heritage. Thereafter she filed an appeal and is awaiting a fair determination. She has also requested that HUD investigate her complaints, since these apartments are Federally subsidized.

“I’m not going to give up,” she says.