Boston Mayor Marty Walsh addresses the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 8, 2019. Photo courtesy of the city of Boston.
With a new action plan announced over the weekend, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says he hopes to reduce the number of evictions in the city by 33 percent in subsidized housing and 25 percent in private housing over the next five years.
The plan was based on work done by a task force of tenant advocates, legal aid organizations, city staff and real estate industry representatives. The group produced a report recently, which detailed the current landscape for evictions in Boston based on housing court data collected by the Office of Housing Stability and HomeStart Inc. and recommends expansion of programs and services that have made an impact in preventing an increase in the number of evictions in Boston, despite the tight housing market.
“As Boston continues to grow and with new residents and new opportunities, we must continue our hard work to ensure that our current residents are able to remain in the city they call home,” Walsh said in a statement. “This action plan lays out a roadmap for how we can increase access to programs and services that are working, and reduce the number of evictions that are happening in Boston. I look forward to our continued work ahead to create strong, stable neighborhoods for all.”
Nationally, Boston is ranked 178th in eviction execution rates for large US cities, the mayor’s office said. While the total number of eviction cases filed for those three years remained relatively level at approximately 5,000 cases per year, the number of eviction executions, or cases where the tenancy was ended by court order, declined by 10 percent over that same time period, to 1,952 cases in 2017 versus 2,172 cases in 2015. These 1,952 cases represent 1 percent of all rental households in Boston.
Walsh’s plan includes practical steps, like educating landlords and property managers about resources available to help prevent tenants from falling behind on their rent and increasing funding for these resources, and more aspirational ones like boosting production of affordable housing and convincing the state legislature to pass a bill Walsh introduced that gives tenants in housing court proceedings the right to a lawyer and another that would create a state income tax credit for renting unsubsidized units at below-market rates. Some in the real estate industry have balked at the notion of a guaranteed right to counsel for tenants in eviction courts, while supporters say it would address a power imbalance between tenants and landlords who are more likely to be able to afford a lawyer.
“Maloney Properties appreciates the work that the city’s Eviction Prevention Task Force is doing to prevent evictions in Boston,” Janet Frazier, president and CEO of Maloney Properties, said in a statement. “As a property management company, we understand the devastating effects of eviction on families and everyone in our communities. We were honored to have been asked to participate on the task force. With Mayor Walsh’s help we look forward to continuing to push for better resources to prevent evictions and create more stable housing for the residents of Boston.”
The city plans to track evictions more closely and evaluate progress of its initiatives.
