July 13, 2020

KENNEDY LEADS MA HOUSE DELEGATION CALLING FOR RIGHT TO COUNSEL PILOT PROGRAM

Urges Gov. Baker to use CARES Act funding to protect residents from eviction

Boston, MA – Congressman Joe Kennedy III today led the Massachusetts House of Representatives Delegation calling on Governor Charlie Baker to establish a statewide right to counsel pilot program for low-income residents facing eviction. As advocates warn of an ‘eviction tsunami’ in the coming weeks, the lawmakers urged the Governor to allocate $6 million in CARES Act funding to launch the pilot program that would provide legal representation to owner occupants and tenants in eviction proceedings whose income does not exceed 200 percent of the poverty line.

“On August 18, 2020, when the current statewide eviction moratorium is set to expire, an estimated 15,000 households will face eviction,” wrote the lawmakers. “As you consider allocating the federal assistance provided to the Commonwealth pursuant to the CARES Act, we urge your support for programs that would provide families facing eviction with access to legal counsel. Such a program would ensure equal justice under the law does not depend on income level, help families continue to practice social distancing by staying in their homes, and save money.”

Specifically highlighting the impact of evictions on communities of color, they continued, “This pilot could help approximately 4,800 households if funded at the requested level. Factors such as poverty rate, COVID-19 infection rate, concentration of people of color, unemployment rate, and concentration of renters would be used to determine the location of the pilot programs and at least two programs would be located in each of the Housing Court’s six divisions. Communities of color have borne the brunt of the health and economic effects of the pandemic. In the seven weeks between the state of emergency in March and the start of the eviction moratorium in April, over 78 percent of all evictions filed in Boston were in census tracts where the majority of residents are people of color. Targeting the programs to the communities most in need will support their financial recovery and protect their health as our nation prepares for a second wave of infections.”

To read the full letter, please click here. The letter was signed by Representatives Joe Kennedy III, Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Stephen Lynch, William Keating, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan and Ayanna Pressley.

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