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MLRI’s Priority Budget Amendments

On May 9, 2023, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2024. In addition to providing an analysis of the budget, MLRI is working alongside coalition partners to advocate for amendments that would allow the budget to better serve low-income people. We encourage you to reach out to your State Senators to ask them to support these crucial amendments. Find your State Senator and their contact information here.

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Take Action to Support an Anti-Poverty State Budget

Our state budget is a representation of our values – what is funded is the foundation of our state’s future, and the state only funds what we fight for.

The budget process can be intimidating to even the most seasoned of observers, which is why every year MLRI advocates analyze the Gubernatorial, House, and Senate budget proposals to see how they will impact low-income residents of the Commonwealth.

This analysis forms the basis of our advocacy. We support parts of the budget that benefit low-income people and we promote amendments that would make the budget a stronger tool for fighting poverty. 

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Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless Celebrate Inclusion of Eviction Protections in the House Ways and Means Budget and Call for Robust Rental Assistance

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Christine Dunn
christine@sevenletter.com | 617.646.1044

Eviction protections expired March 31st, and the failure to restore would increase avoidable evictions, cause loss of housing and homelessness, and reduce rental assistance payments to landlords.

Boston, MA (April 14, 2023)— Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless (MCH) are praising language in the recently released House Ways and Means fiscal year 2024 state budget to reinstate and make permanent critical eviction protections known as “Chapter 257”. These protections would guarantee that tenants facing eviction are granted a case continuance if they have a pending emergency rental assistance application, ensuring that time is provided for tenants and landlords to gain access to critical funding and avoid unnecessary evictions.

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MLRI Applauds Governor Healey and Legislature’s Investment in Low-Income Families

Boston, MA (March 29, 2023) The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute applauds the state legislature’s passage and Governor Healey’s enaction of the FY23 supplemental budget, which includes critically important provisions for low-income Massachusetts residents facing food insecurity and housing instability. 

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Recent Report by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Examines Flaws in Multi-Million Dollar State Tax Subsidy for Market-Rate Housing Developers

Media Contact
Christine Dunn, Seven Letter
christine@sevenletter.com
617.646.1044

Report includes recommendations on how to reform HDIP to include affordability, equity and accountability.

BOSTON, MA (March 22, 2023) — A recent report on the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) written by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) provides the first overall review of this multi-million dollar state subsidy for developers of market-rate and high-priced housing in Gateway Cities.

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Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, with 116+ Organizations, Urge the Trial Courts and Legislature to Extend Eviction Prevention Measures

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.

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MLRI Applauds Governor Healey’s Investment in Low-Income Families, Asks Legislature to Quickly Pass Supplemental Budget

Boston MA (January 31, 2023) – The supplemental budget for fiscal year 2023 filed yesterday by Governor Healey takes three major steps towards reducing hunger for Massachusetts families.

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New Report Surveys the Reasons for Tenant Defaults in Housing Court Eviction Cases

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts (JCSEM) have released an innovative report analyzing the high rate of eviction cases where tenants default, or do not appear, at a court hearing. Statewide, tenants are defaulted in nearly 25% of eviction cases, with often disastrous results. The Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, recognizing the high rate of defaults as a significant barrier to access to justice for many of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents, requested data to better understand the reasons for the high default rate and its consequences.

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