Mass. Bill Would Promote ‘Equitable Housing Recovery’ Ahead of Looming Eviction Crisis

A bill currently working its way through the Massachusetts legislature would, if passed, institute an “equitable housing recovery” process in that state to fix what advocates say is a looming crisis of evictions after more than a year of the COVID-19 crisis.

The bill would “prevent COVID-19 evictions and foreclosures and promote an equitable housing recovery,” in part by forbidding landlords from commencing evictions unless they had “exhausted all available opportunities, and worked in good faith, to obtain short-term emergency rental assistance” for their tenets.

The advocacy group Homes for All Massachusetts hailed the bill as one that would “prevent displacement, ensure timely and equitable distribution of rental assistance, and promote racial and economic equity.”

Massachusetts, like many states, has been scrambling to implement renter and homeowner protections over concerns that the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium may precipitate a crisis in that state and across the country.

The current eviction moratorium expires in early October.