Housing
MLRI’s Housing Unit initiatives protect the basic rights of public housing tenants and low-income tenants in private rental properties. MLRI also advocates increasing the number of public housing units in the state and advocates against the destruction or neglect of those units which currently exist.
Bringing Vacant State Public Housing Units Back Online:
Last year, MLRI played a lead role in unearthing vacancy data from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and successfully used this data to raise awareness among policy makers about the importance of allocating state revenue to bring this housing back into use. As of September 2010, there were upwards of 2,000 vacant state public housing apartments across the Commonwealth that had been offline for more than 60 days. Some of these apartments need only minor repairs to become safely habitable. Others need a greater investment to prevent the loss of these critical resources.
In 2011, during the budget debate, Representative Kevin Honan, Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing, took the message that vacant units needed to be saved to the floor of the house. He announced that funds from the Affordable Housing Trust were to be used to bring vacant public housing back online. After the budget passed, MLRI and its long-time client the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants met with DHCD to press it about its plans. Soon after that, DHCD released a notice announcing that housing authorities could apply for $2 million to re-occupy vacant state-aided family public housing. In November, DHCD awarded 32 housing authorities funds.
With an estimated 17,000 homeless children and families in the state on any given night, and state emergency shelter services operating above capacity, it is imperative that we bring as many of these permanent housing resources back online as quickly as possible. Bringing these apartments back online will not only provide a safe and stable living environment for thousands in need, but will also result in substantial savings for the state over the long run, as fewer individuals and families will be forced to rely on state homelessness services.
Empowering Public Housing Resident Organizations:
Successful management of public housing requires meaningful resident participation. While laws recognize resident involvement is critical, MLRI is playing a lead role in working the Boston Resident Training Institute (BRTI) to breathe life into these laws. BRTI, a resident-driven initiative, supported by the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants, is working to build an institute that can train and sustain local resident organizations. MLRI has provided technical assistance to develop and deliver nine core trainings focused on state and federal laws, local policies, and organizational issues. Through interactive learning presented by residents to residents at their developments, BRTI and MLRI are working to remove barriers that impede public housing leaders from participating.
In 2011, MLRI took the lead in working with BRTI, staff at the Boston Housing Authority, and other community groups to develop a new pilot project in Boston called the Public Service Corp. This project would train public housing residents to serve as organizers for local resident organizations in order to build their capacity to lead. MLRI also worked with Greater Boston Legal Services and resident leaders to design BRTI’s first citywide training on bylaws for local tenant organizations attended by over 60 residents from 20 developments. The training was also translated into Spanish and Cantonese. With AmeriCorps Members, supervised by MLRI, serving as BRTI Coordinators BRTI is gaining recognition from residents, advocates, and BHA staff alike as a critical resource for leaders in Boston. For more information go to: http://www.brtitraining.org/.
Protecting Tenants in Foreclosed Properties:
MLRI has played a critical role in preserving tenancies and preventing neighborhood destabilization caused by widespread property abandonment caused by the foreclosure crisis. MLRI’s housing advocates worked with federal officials to help secure passage of the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) in May 2009, which states that, among other things, 1) all tenants in a foreclosed property are allowed to remain in their homes for the duration of their existing lease; 2) all tenants without an existing lease must be given a minimum 90-days notice before they can be brought to court on an eviction case; and 3) post-foreclosure owners must take over the leases and contracts of Section 8 tenants and those tenants cannot be evicted except for good cause until their leases terminate.
Over the past 18 months, MLRI has worked in collaboration with numerous community-based advocacy groups and local legal services providers to educate tenants about their rights under the new law, preventing widespread tenant displacement and an increase in homelessness. MLRI has worked with the MA Attorney General’s office to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the PTFA provisions that protect tenants in foreclosed properties from threats of legal action by foreclosing lenders
In 2010, MLRI worked closely with members of the Patrick Administration to help draft a new state law, entitled “Tenant Protections in Foreclosed Properties,” which offers additional protections for tenants in foreclosed properties than the federal law. This new law, which is the strongest of its kind in the nation, augments the federal law by:
- Prohibiting foreclosing banks and similar financial institutions from evicting most tenants unless there is “just cause” or a binding purchase and sale agreement; and
- Requiring foreclosing owners to notify tenants about how to contact the new owners, to whom to pay the rent, who to call about repairs and more.
Preserving Affordable Housing Units & Protecting Displaced Public Housing Tenants:
The number of public housing and other low-rent units available in Massachusetts is woefully inadequate for the demand. Families wait on public and subsidized housing lists for years while units are lost, funding is reduced, and unemployment continues to diminish families’ income.
It is against this backdrop that Watuppa Heights, a 100-unit public housing development in Fall River, a low income city in Massachusetts with an undeniable need for additional affordable housing, stands vacant and boarded up. For this reason, MLRI initiated a federal court civil rights lawsuit against the City of Fall River in 2007 for failing to abide by the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement requiring the city to construct 80 units of affordable housing for extremely low income families on and around the site of the former Watuppa Heights housing development.
In December 2011, MLRI won a critical victory in the Watuppa Heights case by securing replacement housing for poor families who were displaced from Watuppa Heights. This project involved a sustained, multi-pronged legal and advocacy strategy (involving the state legislature, state and local government and the federal court).
Working with our clients the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and the Fall River Joint Tenant Council, our partners at South Coast Counties Legal Services, the law firm of Mintz Levin, and community groups in Fall River, we have finally achieved the definitive victory we sought. On December 6, 2011, the Fall River City Council, which had for years refused to do what is was legally obliged to do - finally voted to adopt a plan that will start the process of rebuilding the development and locating other affordable housing in higher opportunity areas of Fall River and perhaps adjoining suburbs. Although there will be much more work to be done, MLRI's multi-year advocacy achieved a substantial victory on behalf of the displaced Watuppa Heights public housing tenants.
The Watuppa Heights lawsuit and subsequent victory follows MLRI’s success in forcing the City of Lowell to relocate tenants displaced following the destruction of the Julian Steele housing development. The displaced tenants were initially relocated to substandard housing in racially-segregated areas of the city. Thanks to MLRI’s efforts, these tenants were subsequently relocated to high-opportunity neighborhoods.