Subsidized multifamily housing brings together unrelated people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, and mixes elderly individuals with younger persons living with a variety of disabilities. The ability of bullying to flourish depends on the social setting. Bullying is bad for the institution as well as for everyone in the institution-the housing provider, bystanders, staff, service providers, and also for the perpetrators-those who bully. Bullying has a terrible impact on victims, causing stress, emotional pain, mental disease, and physical disease. However, many people do seem oblivious to the dangers of bullying.īullying in the residential community restricts a victim’s rights as a tenant and citizen and is therefore a civil rights and human rights violation.

causing harm or with the potential to cause harm intent to harm is not always present harm may be difficult to evaluate formally and may require, for example, evaluation by a mental health professional often intuitively obvious.actions that are based on or seek to create a power imbalance.attempting to control one or or more others but without having the appropriate role or authority.intent may be difficult to determine, however repetition tends to exclude other, more innocent explanations intent and repetition aggressive actions that are repeated and continue over time.aggressive words, communications, and actions.I attempt to answer: What is bullying? How does it arise? How can we prevent bullying? And how can we create healthy community in multifamily housing?īullying consists of the following combination: Bullying is a contagious social disease that flourishes in the absence of a legitimate social order, creates a toxic environment and an unhealthy community life, all while causing psychological and physical harm to victims.

A Tree for Max by Jerry Halberstadt