For Immediate Release: March 20, 2023
Contact: Christine Dunn
christine@sevenletter.com | 617.646.1044

Law set to expire March 31st, failure to extend would increase avoidable evictions, cause loss of housing and homelessness, reduce rental assistance payments to landlords

Boston, MA (March 20, 2023)– Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, together with 116 other organizations and municipal officials from across the Commonwealth, sent a letter on Friday to Massachusetts Trial Court leaders, state legislative leaders, and legislators, asking them to extend “Chapter 257” eviction prevention measures. Chapter 257 was enacted to pause eviction cases for tenants with pending rental assistance applications in order to preserve tenancies and maximize rental assistance payments to landlords. The endorsing organizations are urging the Massachusetts Trial Courts and the Massachusetts Legislature to take immediate action to extend Chapter 257 beyond the current March 31st expiration date.

“Chapter 257 has been a critical upstream homelessness prevention tool and effective force for housing stability,” said Kelly Turley, Associate Director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. “We call on the Courts and the Legislature to immediately extend Chapter 257 eviction protections to ensure that families and individuals seeking help with back rent payments are not pushed out of their home while waiting for their rental assistance application to be completed and processed.”

Rental assistance from federal and state programs was a critical lifeline to tens of thousands of Massachusetts households during the pandemic. The largest remaining rental assistance program, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), is a state-funded homelessness prevention program that provides financial assistance to households struggling with rent to help preserve their housing and prevent eviction.

The RAFT application process is complex and takes weeks, and sometimes months, to complete. “RAFT applications are tough for both tenants and landlords, especially for people who struggle with technology,” said Celly de la Cruz, a community organizer with Lynn United for Change. “Chapter 257 gives the time needed to get a better result for everyone – tenants stay in their homes and landlords are paid back money they’re owed. Without Chapter 257 many of the people we work with would have ended up on the street.”

Application numbers for RAFT remain extremely high as families and individuals struggle with increasing housing costs, lack of available housing, and inflation in necessities such as food and fuel. Chapter 257 ensures that tenants in eviction proceedings have the opportunity to wait for a decision on pending RAFT applications before they can be evicted.

“The state continues to support RAFT because we know so many Massachusetts residents are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, and Chapter 257 was implemented to ensure that people are actually able to access those benefits,” said Andrea M. Park, MLRI’s Director of Community Driven Advocacy. “Allowing this commonsense tool to expire now will not only result in avoidable evictions but would thwart the objectives of the RAFT program, which is a critical component for a strong housing recovery.”

“At a time when the housing crisis rages on, we need more tenant protections, not less,” said Etel Haxhiaj, Director of Public Education and Advocacy at the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, one of the organizations that administers RAFT funds. “Extending Chapter 257 protections will allow tenants to continue accessing rental assistance avoiding displacement, housing instability, and homelessness.”

A copy of the letter, and the full list of endorsing organizations, can be found here.

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