evictions

The number of evictions filed each week in Boston is up nearly 75% from last year, according to new data released by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, looking at the four-week average.die

Activists for tenant protections, including rent control, rallied outside a gated community across from Jamaica Pond Saturday, calling on the owners of a Boston-based private real estate company — apparently who reside within the gates — to negotiate with the last remaining tenants of a Medford property the company recently purchased.

Last Wednesday, members of the Grid Management Tenant Association came together in East Boston alongside housing rights activists from advocacy group City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) to rally against what they say are no fault evictions in their building.

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.

Following a state-level ban on evictions that expired in October 2020 and a federal ban that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in August, acting Mayor Kim Janey on Aug. 31 announced a municipal eviction moratorium for the city of Boston.

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.

Housing activists say Beacon Communities went too far in moving to evict more than 100 residents of the Georgetowne affordable housing development. Beacon Communities says they only initiated evictions as a last resort.

The resources in the Eviction Diversion Initiative will include more money for rapid rehousing programs, legal representation and mediation outside of court between landlords and renters.

Governor Charlie Baker’s statewide eviction moratorium is now set to end on October 17, he announced last Tuesday. But while the ban prevents no-fault evictions from flooding the courts during the COVID-19 emergency, organizers say the state could see over 20,000 eviction cases immediately after it ends.

Mayor Martin Walsh and the Boston Housing Authority announced Friday that they will extend the moratorium on “nonessential” evictions for Boston’s public housing residents until the end of 2020.

Legislators say there could be 20,000 evictions following the end of the governor’s moratorium on evictions.