This is the letter Anne Hebert received from the Smithfield Housing Authority. I didn’t make this up.

“Dear Anne: It has come to our attention that one of the residents of Macintosh Estates who comes to visit you, has been walking her dog at the Greenville Manor. In accordance with the Smithfield Housing Authority’s Pet Policy, Section Fourteen, number 10, pets of family members and guests are not allowed on the premises without prior written approval.”

Petty, you say? Pointlessly intrusive? Pointlessly restrictive? Pointlessly controlling?

Sure it is. And we can only guess what’s next. Perhaps a dog checkpoint at the entrance to check on canine paperwork?

It might seem funny from the outside. From the inside, it’s another of those small tyrannies that make life in some housing complexes needlessly stressful, uncertain, even fearful.

It’s not just at Greenville Manor. The stories come from a lot of places where the living isn’t as good as it should be.

“I see it all the time,” says Lori Silvia, director of the Fox Point Senior Center in Providence. “People are afraid to take complaints to the manager. They’re afraid of retribution. One woman did something very minor and she was threatened with eviction.”

Tenants in nearby Section 8 housing come to the senior center. They are mostly elderly. Some are disabled. Some speak little English. All are on limited income.

“They’re afraid of authority,” says Silvia.

So intrusions, like unauthorized entering of apartments by staff, and orders to clear rooms for maintenance even if it means impossibly heavy lifting go unchallenged.

“If they’re evicted, they’re homeless,” says Silvia. “And there’s such a long waiting list for housing.”

Silvia says she has contacted Rhode Island Housing and the Providence Housing Authority but has gotten nowhere in dealing with the problems.

One tenant says she was cited for having too much stuff, too many books. Another was told that allowing a child to stay for a few days after she had gotten out of the hospital was a violation of the rules.

“They play on fear,” said one tenant who lives near the senior center. “It’s an attitude.”

When I went to visit Anne Hebert in her apartment in Greenville Manor, she had invited several of her neighbors to join us. Only one showed up.

“They’re afraid,” she said.

Hebert is 69, which, she says, makes her one of the younger residents. She moved to Greenville Manor three years ago to be near her son and grandson. Every weekday she picks up her grandson at school, takes him home and fixes dinner for him and his father.

The closeness to family is the biggest reason for her staying at Greenville Manor. It might be the only reason.

Hebert is a widow. She learned to ride a Harley-Davidson Sportster when she was 50 and hit the road in pink fringed leather biker duds. She tends to speak her mind.

“The other tenants look to me,” she said.

So she has made her concerns known. She worries about elderly residents who really shouldn’t be living alone. She worries that some of the doors are too heavy for some residents to open, that people who don’t live there have too easy access to the buildings, that routine maintenance is ignored.

Hebert worries about smokers living too close to people on oxygen.

She hasn’t gotten far with her complaints. There is no real tenant voice, she says, no regular meetings to discuss important resident issues.

Obviously, there are going to be some tensions within any complex where people live close together. They’re inevitable. There will be small rivalries and assorted disputes.

But people are living scared when they shouldn’t have to. People are not demanding what is rightfully theirs for fear of losing the roof over their heads. And that is simply wrong.

Wouldn’t it be something if all the people who run subsidized housing complexes tried to make life as good as possible for the tenants? That seems such a better option than playing on fears and anxieties. And it would make it so much nicer showing up for work every day, wouldn’t it?

Otherwise, things get to the point where people don’t even feel comfortable showing up to talk to a guy from The Journal.

And letters go out about section 14, number 10, of the pet policy. Even the dogs feel the heat.

bkerr@projo.com