Housing Headlines

In a wide-ranging public radio interview, Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority Executive Director Brad Gilbert estimated that the almost-simultaneous scheduled end of emergency federal unemployment benefits and the state's eviction moratorium could trigger a "tsunami" of evictions and foreclosures and that upwards of 2,000 households in the county could need some sort of financial assistance. Gilbert added the potential for homelessness could increase overcrowding and exacerbate the COVID-19 health emergency.

On June 26, 2020, one of MHP's lending partners - the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. - issued a statement in response to violence against Black and Brown Americans. Based on a discussion with its staff and board, MHIC identified several recurring themes and promised to work with its staff and lending partners to find solutions to issues that disproportionately impact people of color. " We are in this for the 'long game' and we need to push for changes that may not have been possible in the past," the statement said.

An undercover investigation released by Suffolk University Law School has found high levels of discrimination by Greater Boston landlords and real estate brokers against Black renters. Two hundred testers were trained to conduct 50 tests at properties across Greater Boston in 2018-2019. Black testers were assigned names such as Aisha, Hakim and Darnell while whites were identified as Jill, Allison and Brad. The study - funded by the Boston Foundation and the Racial Justice Fund - found that Black renters experienced discrimination 71 percent of the time and were shown apartments 48 percent of the time whereas whites were able to view apartments 80 percent of the time.

A new bill filed by Reps. Mike Connolly of Cambridge and Kevin Honan of Brighton would extend the current eviction moratorium into next year, freeze rents and prohibit foreclosures on homeowners. The bill - written with help from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, the Chinese Progressive Association and other advocacy groups - also proposes to compensate some landlords for loss of rental income, with priority given to owner-occupant landlords, elderly landlords on fixed incomes, non-profit landlords, and Massachusetts-based commercial landlords owning 15 or fewer units,

A new report from City Life and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology predicts that a surge of evictions due to COVID-19 and rising unemployment are likely to strike Black communities hardest. In a study of evictions in Boston between 2014 and 2016, the report found that an outsize number of evictions occurred in communities of color. For example, eviction rates are seven times higher in Roxbury than Allston/Brighton. Nearly 90 percent of Roxbury residents are people of color, while Allston/Brighton is 62 percent white.

WORCESTER --- Significant in the state's recent funding awards for supportive housing is the $2.2 million it awarded to the Worcester Housing Authority for the construction of 25 studio apartments for formerly homeless households. The project - to be developed on WHA land - will be the first time the state will use modular construction to build micro units for the homeless. The $3 million project is receiving additional support from the city and the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance.