Reports

​Evicted for Life is a new report by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute that highlights how publicly available eviction court record information is harming tenants and exacerbating the housing crisis. Eviction court records are freely available online at MassCourts.org, the Trial Court’s case management system, creating devastating barriers for tenants statewide — especially vulnerable tenants, people of color, low-income renters, elders, and children who are named in their parents’ eviction cases.

​At least 1 million eviction cases have been filed in Massachusetts since 1998 and records of these eviction cases remain online forever, regardless of the outcome of the case. ​Through extensive interviews and research, Evicted for Life details the increasing damage being done by the unrestricted availability of information on MassCourts, as well as policy recommendations to mitigate and reduce these harms.

For more information about the movement to pass the HOMES Act (Housing Opportunity and Mobility through Eviction Sealing) and to download the report, click here.