BOSTON MAYOR Michelle Wu’s plan to clear tents from the Mass. and Cass homeless camping site by January 12 is long overdue. If only it had been done earlier, the move could have averted a humanitarian crisis. Many believe the encampment has grown merely because the people there lack shelter. The city had claimed it […]
Housing
Posted inThe Download
Demand for housing assistance accelerating rapidly
It is clear that pandemic-related struggles made it harder for many people to pay rent, even as eviction moratoriums helped them stay in their homes. A report released this week by Metro Housing Boston puts a staggering figure on just how much help greater Boston residents have needed. In one year, beginning in July 2020, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Demand for housing assistance accelerating rapidly
IT IS CLEAR that pandemic-related struggles made it harder for many people to pay rent, even as eviction moratoriums helped them stay in their homes. A report released this week by Metro Housing Boston puts a staggering figure on just how much help greater Boston residents have needed. In one year, beginning in July 2020, […]
Posted inOpinion
‘Build Back Better’ must preserve housing provisions
BUYING A HOME in Mattapan is hard. Prices are high and inventory is low. The same is true throughout the greater Boston area. And if you are a person of color, the numbers are stacked against you. Homeownership rates for white households in Massachusetts approach 70 percent while just 35 percent of Black, Latinx, and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Unpaid $3,056 tax bill may cost Oxford man his $254,000 home
JOHN SMITH in 1977 bought his home in Oxford, a town just west of Worcester. He worked at a Sakrete Concrete manufacturing facility in his hometown, raised a family there, and by all accounts was a responsible homeowner. He paid off his mortgage and made his tax payments regularly until 2010. In 2011, with his memory failing, Smith entrusted his adult daughter with his finances. According […]
Posted inEconomy
The silent majority in support of housing action
RECENT HIGH-PROFILE opposition to new housing has many wondering whether Massachusetts has lost its appetite for ramping up housing production. Last year, we saw the bipartisan passage of the Baker administration’s Housing Choice Initiative, which is set to bring fundamental changes to zoning laws across the greater Boston region. This year, we have seen several […]
Posted inEconomy
Report urges action on addressing inequities post-COVID
DESPITE A NATIONWIDE reckoning on race, Massachusetts society post-COVID could see even worsening inequities in society based on class and race, if policymakers do not make a conscious effort to intervene, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Senate committee on “Reimagining Massachusetts Post-Pandemic Resiliency.” Faced with the broad task of analyzing societal […]
Posted inUncategorized
Evictions happening less today than pre-COVID
WHEN STATE and federal COVID-related moratoriums on evictions ended, advocates worried that there would be a tsunami of people losing their homes. But, state officials said Friday, an increase in rental assistance combined with programs geared at mediation have actually resulted in far fewer evictions than pre-pandemic. “Filings are substantially down over what historic numbers would […]
Posted inOpinion
6 myths about emergency rental assistance
RONALD REAGAN once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” That statement was wrong then, and those who put out inaccurate information about programs that are making a real impact in the lives of renters, landlords, and homeowners are wrong now. Here […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Boston issues temporary eviction moratorium
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LANDLORDS AND PROPERTY owners will be barred from seeking to evict tenants in Boston under a new city-level moratorium acting Mayor Kim Janey announced Tuesday afternoon. Five days after the US Supreme Court struck down the Centers for Disease Control’s eviction moratorium and under pressure from rival candidates for mayor, Janey […]