IN PREPARATION for an influx of eviction cases when the statewide moratorium ends this weekend, housing courts across Massachusetts are gearing up to make the process more accessible with translators, special days set aside for people who speak different languages, and in some courts, computer setups for people who can’t Zoom from home. The eviction and […]
Housing
Posted inUncategorized
Baker unveils $171m in eviction assistance
WITH THE STATE’S eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of the week, the Baker administration on Monday unveiled a $171 million initiative that includes new aid for landlords and tenants as well as increased funding for court-sponsored mediation efforts and rehousing programs if tenants do get evicted. The initiative, which appears to have […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Judges urged to delay eviction hearings until Jan. 1
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS JUDICIARY should intervene to prevent a potential surge of tens of thousands of housing removals that could hit when the state’s temporary ban on evictions and foreclosures expires this month, a regional planning agency urged in a new report. At least 80,000 households in Massachusetts, including both renters and […]
Posted inOpinion
Lynn’s public land should benefit the public
IF THERE IS ONE Â key lesson to learn from these past months under COVID shutdown, it is that all of the social inequalities in our society are linked together, and that all of them impact our ability to withstand a crisis. The failure of our healthcare system to handle coronavirus was made more severe […]
Posted inUncategorized
Eviction protection bill clears Housing Committee
A BILL THAT WOULD BAN most evictions and foreclosures for up to a year after Gov. Charlie Baker ends the coronavirus state of emergency cleared a key legislative hurdle on Thursday.   The Joint Committee on Housing advanced the bill in a party line vote, 14-2, just 18 days before the state’s eviction ban is set to expire. The effort, led the House chairman of […]
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Court rules unauthorized tenant can be evicted
AN UNDOCUMENTED woman who was subleasing an apartment in Revere was evicted this week, illustrating one of the many gray areas in the state’s ban on evictions and foreclosures. Rosa, who asked that her last name not be used, moved into the apartment in April, paying $1,000 a month to the leaseholder who, in turn, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Blacks, Latinos migrating from Boston to Gateway Cities
BLACKS AND LATINOS in search of lower-cost housing are migrating from Boston to the state’s 26 Gateway Cities, according to mortgage origination data analyzed by MassINC researchers. In 2007, according to the MassINC research brief, 27 percent of the state’s black home buyers purchased in Boston. But by 2017 that percentage had fallen to 11 […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s do away with real estate broker fees
FOR DECADES, the laws of supply and demand have weighed heavily toward landlords and the 3,000-plus real estate agents scattered across brokerage offices in Allston, Brighton, and Brookline. Historical market conditions have cemented a business model of brokers collecting a payment of one month’s rent from renters and it’s taken a global pandemic to blast […]
Posted inUncategorized
Federal judge refuses to lift eviction ban
US DISTRICT COURT Judge Mark Wolf on Thursday refused to order an end to the state’s temporary ban on most evictions and foreclosures, but he indicated the pandemic is not a “blank check” to continue the moratorium indefinitely. “This moratorium was said to be temporary,” Wolf said, according to a transcript. “What is constitutionally permissible […]
Posted inOpinion
Tenants facing eviction need legal representation
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT of the coronavirus has hurt a lot of people, but few have been hit harder than low-income renters and communities of color. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council estimates that 61,000 households statewide don’t have enough money to pay their rent since the end of the extra unemployment benefit. In Boston, we project […]