Neighborhoods protest no-fault eviction policy

Right to Remain proponents marched from the Field’s Corner Vietnamese American Community Center to 200 Hancock street, stopping at several sites along the way to protest against evictions and foreclosures. (Photo: Ernesto Arroyo)

Viewpoints clash in the privately-owned, non-subsidized housing market where one person’s home is someone else’s business venture. As new developments and other factors draw more outside interest to the area, landlords may seek to cash in on it by raising rents. But upholding their rental contract does not protect families from being forced out of their homes by landlords hoping to court renters who can pay more.

To address this, the 2015 Right to Remain Boston Assembly convened supporters along with Boston and national cosponsoring organizations at the Vietnamese American Community Center in Dorchester on Saturday. Residents and activists recounted their experiences with soaring rents in an overheated housing climate, shared visions and called upon Boston to enact a just cause eviction law.

After the meeting, several dozen marchers made their way to 200 Hancock Street where they joined a tenant association formed in an apartment building there to fight rent increases and advocate for improvements.

Fault: no; Eviction: yes

The practice most under fire: Massachusetts’ no-fault eviction law.

A landlord seeking higher profit may terminate the existing rental contract with sufficient notice — 30 days or one rental period, whichever is longer — and offer the tenants a new one stipulating higher rent. If the tenants cannot or will not sign the new contract or move out voluntarily, landlords might choose to file for no-fault eviction.

Under no-fault eviction the landlord acknowledges in court that the tenant has not breached any terms in their contract and requests that the judge rule that the tenant be removed.

The tenant may have little legal defense available. Unlike an at-fault case, there is no complaint to dispute or redress. The tenant may, however, request a stay period.

A Right to Remain press release pointed to corporate, speculative and non-resident landlords as particularly likely to use eviction for profit-seeking purposes.

Renters at risk

Reforms to rental laws could affect hundreds of thousands: 68 percent of Bostonians are renters, according to a report issued by Right to the City Boston.

In many cases, those subject to no-fault evictions are people who are eligible for affordable housing. A severe shortfall of affordable-designated units keeps them in the general market.

“The majority of Boston renters are people of color with median household incomes of $34,000,” said Yvette Modestin, community organizer at Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and co-host of the event.

The average rent for a one-bedroom unit is $2,400 a month, an amount only affordable with a $96,000 income, said Darnell Johnson, regional coordinator of Right to the City Boston, which helped organize the assembly.

State voters rejected rent control via a 1994 ballot measure. When landlords increase rents, many tenants find it impossible to pay. Across many neighborhoods rent increases outstrip wage increases, resulting in the force-out of long-time residents in favor of wealthy newcomers.

In some cases being priced out of housing results in being displaced from the entire neighborhood.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s approval of 1,000 units of luxury development in East Boston caused rent increases of approximately 30 percent per year, according to a Right to Remain press release. Right to Remain predicted that as a result nearly 90 percent of residents in the primarily Latino-immigrant neighborhood will be force to move.

“Chinatown was built by residents and is for people who need the services in Chinatown,” said Jian Hua Tang, co-chair of the Chinese Progressive Association. She said she has lived in Boston for 19 years and seen her rent more than double, while wages changed far less. “We want to see a Chinatown forever, not just for us, but for the people in the future. We need a Chinatown that’s accessible to working families.”

With just cause eviction

Right to Remain Assembly organizers called for legislation requiring landlords to provide a reason for evicting tenants — such as property damage or failure to pay rent — and instating protections around evictions of families with children in grades K-12, so that the students’ schools years are not disrupted, or families with elderly members.

Right to Remain proponents modeled their legislation around similar laws in other cities such as San Francisco and Chicago. The major change in Boston’s proposed law is a provision allowing the tenant to request mediation with the landlord and a third party in cases where rent would be increased by more than 5 percent, said Johnson. The mediation would be non-binding but may help both tenant and landlord find a solution without going to court and save on legal fees. Massachusetts Housing Court offers its own mediation services.

Johnson said the coalition is examining possible incentives that could be offered to landlords.

Other goals include designated rent-stabilized zones around transportation nodes and rapidly gentrifying areas, increased affordable housing offerings and more efforts to ensure public land is controlled by community land trusts.

Path to law

Passing the Just Cause Eviction bill would require support of seven city councilors, with one of them sponsoring it.

Bob Terrell of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston said Right to Remain aims to recruit nine city councilors to ensure the mayor cannot veto. Six councilors and two candidates attended the assembly or sent staff members on their behalf to voice their support. These were Tito Jackson, Michael Flaherty, Frank Baker, Stephen Murphy, Charles Yancey, Michelle Wu, Ayanna Pressley, Andrea Campbell, Charles Clemons and Annisa Essabi George.

“Nobody should be evicted for no cause of their own,” said Councilor Baker.

Clemons said he had personal experience: he spent four months homeless after being evicted from a home he owned for 23 years.

Since June, supporters have collected 2,708 signatures from renters, homeowners and landlords across Boston who favor the law, said assembly co-host, Mimi Ramos of Right to the City Boston.

To date, councilors have not read the drafted legislation, said Johnson, though parts of it have been shared with the Department of Neighborhood Development.

Later this year coalition members will present the proposed bill to Sheila Dillon, chief of Housing, to discuss how it might be implemented, Johnson said. He added that by early spring they plan to file legislation with the city council.

Johnson said that the participation and response of city councilors “give us hope that they will be with us.”