A pandemic-era program that paused roughly 10,000 eviction cases while tenants sought financial aid could return as a permanent tool if Gov. Maura Healey joins lawmakers in support.
Instead of extending outdated policies, as Banker & Tradesman called for in a recent editorial, we should increase housing production and create needs-based rental aid programs, where property owners receive the funds directly.
Massachusetts has a chance to make its eviction system a little more humane. Unfortunately, some landlords don’t want that to happen. The legislature should still move forward with the idea.
More than one hundred organizations endorsed a call Monday for lawmakers to extend a pandemic-era eviction prevention policy, warning that the looming March 31 expiration will displace Bay Staters and stymie other efforts to keep people in their homes.
Housing advocates warned Tuesday that a Baker administration policy limiting rental aid eligibility has put help out of reach for tenants who are struggling to make ends meet, urging lawmakers to intervene and unwind the measure in the coming weeks.
Returning to “normal” shouldn’t mean skyrocketing rents and home prices. Yet, that’s what we’re seeing happen across the state. It’s time we put the lessons learned over the last two years into practice to fix the housing crisis.
With federal money running out, the Baker administration announced that it is closing several pandemic-era emergency rental aid program to new applicants.
Massachusetts renters who seek state aid to avoid eviction will face new requirements and a revised application process in less than a week, a sudden shift that prompted dozens of housing advocates to demand lawmakers intervene and stave off a “disgraceful and unnecessary outcome.”
Looking back, expansion of RAFT and creation of the Eviction Diversion Initiative demonstrated incredible foresight, leaving Massachusetts well-positioned to continue protecting housing stability for the foreseeable future.
The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development has denied MassLandlords’ request to see where rental assistance was spent, or where applications were denied. The result is that $400 million of our public funds were spent in secret, with no public oversight. Landlords should be outraged.
The federal government is revving up to redistribute some unspent rental aid it steered to states during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Massachusetts hopes to be near the top of the list to receive an extra boost.
Baker administration and judiciary officials touted the effort to connect renters and landlords with emergency aid as a model of success even as advocates and lawmakers contended that the system still has harmful gaps.
Real estate industry leaders and landlords lined up in opposition to a bill on Beacon Hill that would revive the state eviction moratorium, arguing that the hundreds of millions of dollars that remain available in rental aid prevent any need for the temporary ban.
A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month.
Massachusetts has set aside roughly $1 billion for pandemic rental assistance. But roughly half of applicants aren’t able to finish their 13-page applications. The net result is a loss of affordable housing run by small landlording businesses, plus despair in many Massachusetts homes.
A new report from The Boston Foundation and the UMass Donahue Institute is calling for the state rental assistance infrastructure built up during the COVID-19 pandemic to be maintained once the current package of federal COVID aid expires.
Some pandemic-era policies that had expired on Tuesday – such as requiring judges to stay eviction cases while a tenant seeks state rental aid – were quickly extended Wednesday after Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill sent to him by state lawmakers.
The Biden administration is extending a federal moratorium on evictions of tenants who have fallen behind on rent during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Senate approved a sweeping pandemic relief package over Republican opposition on Saturday, moving President Joe Biden closer to a milestone political victory.
