COVID-19 Housing Equity Bill

Maria has been living in fear. Her landlord has been rapping on her door, harassing her and her children for the rent. But, since both Maria and her husband have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis, they can’t pay rent.

Gathering just over a year after the state’s eviction moratorium expired, advocates from the statewide Homes For All Massachusetts coalition met in front of the Statehouse Thursday to call on legislators to pass a bill designed to protect Massachusetts residents from evictions and foreclosures.

A report released Tuesday by the housing activist group City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) found that evictions in Boston during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic had an undue impact in communities of color.

When Gov. Charlie Baker let Massachusetts’ eviction moratorium expire last October, he said he had a plan to keep residents from being thrown out of their homes. His Eviction Diversion Initiative would spend nearly $200 million on relief for tenants and landlords and fund legal assistance during eviction proceedings, as opposed to maintaining a ban that simply kept the courts from processing eviction filings.

The federal eviction moratorium expired on Saturday, July 31, and local activists are pushing for state legislation to extend protections for residents at risk of losing their housing.