The Senate will be debating and voting on eviction protections starting at 11 am today, June 10.
Please take a minute to email or call your State Senator now. The message is this:
Please co-sponsor Amendment 35 and Amendment 39 to S.2467, the bill addressing the sudden end of the state of emergency. These amendments are critical in order to accomplish our shared goal to prevent further evictions stemming from COVID-19.
Amendment #35 will adopt and extend federal CDC eviction protections for Massachusetts residents, temporarily halting the final stage of eviction for covered tenants.
Amendment #39 will close a loophole that lets landlords get around Chapter 257 tenant protections by filing “no fault” eviction cases against tenants behind on rent because of COVID-19.
Massachusetts has millions of dollars in federal rental assistance available. But we need time to get that disaster relief to tenants. In Western Massachusetts alone, over 2,000 eviction cases have been filed (16,000 statewide) and countless others have left their homes out of fear or through informal evictions. These amendments are necessary in order to ensure tenants do not lose their homes before they have an opportunity to obtain rental assistance.
And we know that without these protections, communities of color will bear the burden more than any other. The racial justice issue is ever-present in the consequences of this moment.
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Please do this now.
Thanks for your quick action. It makes a very real difference.
