Harvard officials yesterday presented testimony to a Rent Control Board examiner in its ongoing struggle to evict tenants from 7 Sumner Rd.

The University, which has tried for 18 months to evict the tenants to make room for Design School office space is seeking a removal permit under a recently passed city ordinance designed to slow conversion of the city's housing stock.

At Long Last

Yesterday's Rent Board session was the final hearing in the case. Rent Board examiner Meg Turner refused to comment on the case yesterday, but said her report may be ready in the next few weeks.

Aggravation

Tenant Donald Cohen, who testified before the board, said tenants attempted to show that their eviction would aggravate the city's housing shortage.

Cohen said Harvard officials testified they provided housing for 56 tenants at 18-20 Ware St., which the University bought last year. Harvard argued that that expansion compensated for the Sumner Rd. units it is seeking to remove.

The full Rent Control Board will consider Turner's recommendations sometime later this spring. If they grant the University the removal permit it seeks, Harvard will be able to evict the four remaining tenants in the 16-apartment building.