In support of housing stability bills

BY TANYA CONNOR | THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
 
Voicing concern that front-line workers, among others, are in danger of becoming homeless, a bishops’ representative has urged legislators to quickly address housing bills.
James F. Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public policy office, wrote to legislative leaders July 9, on behalf of the bishops, about “An Act to guarantee housing stability during the COVID-19 emergency and recovery.”
The identical bills – HD 5166 and SD 2992 – are to prevent the start of eviction and foreclosure proceedings against people unable to pay their rent or mortgages because of the pandemic’s effect on them financially, Mr. Driscoll said.
A law passed in April prohibits these proceedings for one month from the end of the state of emergency, or Aug. 18, whichever comes first, he said. These bills would move that timeline to one year after the governor lifts the state of emergency, which was still in effect as of Tuesday. 
“As early as mid-August, the Commonwealth may see as many as twenty thousand eviction cases filed in the land courts if the current law remains unchanged,” Mr. Driscoll wrote. “Homelessness would spike to unprecedented levels. Our poorest communities would disproportionately suffer the most if the legislature does not act before the end of the formal session.”
The legislative session was still scheduled to end on July 31 as of Monday, he said, though he anticipated an extension.
Mr. Driscoll told legislators about the virus causing serious illness and death among the elderly, African American, Latino, and other minority communities.
“Many of these people have been on the front lines providing critical services,” he wrote. “We must be grateful for what they have done – not support a system that would abandon them and eventually lead them to homelessness. This is a matter of economic and racial justice that cannot be ignored.”
He told The Catholic Free Press, “They’re putting themselves at risk; to make these people homeless would be a travesty.”
The bills give people time to get back on their feet, he said.
The bills aim to protect tenants from rising rent rates and negative credit reports due to non-payment, and would make accommodations for landlords with a small number of rental units or residential apartments.
The bills do not release tenants from the obligation to pay their rent, but protect them from eviction for a time, Taylor Trenchard, research director for the Joint Committee on Housing, told The Catholic Free Press.
To assist small property owners whose tenants cannot afford to pay their rent yet, the bills call for the establishment of a fund, she noted.
Details of where the money for that fund will come from are still being hammered out, she said Tuesday. She said it is assumed that if the rules committees vote positively on the bills, the bills would be sent to the housing committee, which would work out the details of funding sources.
The Massachusetts Legislature would appropriate funds from the state, and an advisory board that the bills create would seek money from the federal government and private sources, she said.
Whatever committee the bills go to would set a date for a public hearing, she said.