Pol makes push for bill to ease pandemic’s pressure on housing
Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly is warning his fellow lawmakers it would be “foolish” to rely on a national temporary eviction moratorium to protect households hard hit by the coronavirus, urging action before the state’s own ban expires this month.
“I don’t think we can’t rely on that order. I think it would be foolish for us to trust Donald Trump’s CDC with our most vulnerable residents,” said Connolly, a lead sponsor on legislation that would expand eviction and foreclosures locally.
Up to 40 million Americans — including as many as 1 million in Massachusetts — faced the looming threat of eviction in August, according to a report by 10 national housing experts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hinged its unprecedented September order banning evictions through the end of the year on that fact.
A temporary ban halting evictions and foreclosures in Massachusetts — the strongest of its kind in the nation — expires on Oct. 17. Gov. Charlie Baker last week was noncommittal when asked if he would extend the moratorium for a second time.
“We would really like to see if we can put a plan together to make sure that we can do, with the courts, what needs to be done to ensure that people are protected with respect to their housing,” Baker said. “But the longer this thing goes on, the deeper the hole gets, not just for tenants but also for landlords, especially small landlords … who have in many cases already run out of rope.”
Twin bills working through the Legislature’s Housing Committee would extend the bans for a year after Baker lifts the pandemic health emergency and provide additional tenant and landlord protections.
Lawmakers and housing advocates gathered at the State House on Wednesday pressing for a vote on the bills, which have earned widespread support from lawmakers.
The bills have garnered opposition from the real estate community and landlords, but Connolly argued the bills working their way through the Legislature’s Housing Committee would provide better protection against foreclosure by offering a mechanism for mortgage payment deferral.
Elmir Simov of Massachusetts Landlords wrote earlier this month on his blog that the CDC ban is “most likely unconstitutional.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/33hqzsn
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