Housing News

On October 14, Governor Baker released a revised FY2021 budget (H.2), laying out spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020. This version revises the Governor's original FY2021 budget proposal originally released in January 2020.  

On October 12th, Governor Baker announced an Eviction Diversion Initiative, committing $171 million for efforts to prevent evictions as tenants and property owners face financial hardships due to COVID-19. The state eviction moratorium is set to expire on October 17th, which the Governor also indicating that he would not be extending.

CHAPA, along with a broad groups of housing stakeholders, is asking Governor Baker for $215 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund be used for eviction prevention strategies to preserve and support tenancies, properties, and our communities. We respectfully ask the Baker-Polito Administration to take immediate action on making resources available for residents and property owners in order to protect Massachusetts, prevent the further spread of the virus, and support the economy.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has announced the inaugural awards of the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds (the Funds). As part of these awards, DPH, and its implementing partner Health Resources in Action, Inc., will join with CHAPA and 31 other organizations across Massachusetts and more than 35 of their community partners, including non-profit community-based organizations, municipalities, and regional planning commissions.

On September 25, 2020, in the case of Baptiste v. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Judge Wolf of US District Court in Boston denied the request of two Massachusetts landlords to stay the eviction moratorium claiming that the landlords were unlikely to prevail on most of the merits of the case.

Thank you to everyone who joined CHAPA, MHP, and DHCD for Tuesday’s virtual training on Learning from Emergency Rental Assistance Programs During COVID-19. For those who were not able to make the session or who want to review what we covered, the recorded session is available on Youtube.

In a virtual hearing on September 10th, Judge Mark Wolf of United States District Court in Boston indicated that he is likely to find that the Massachusetts eviction moratorium passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Barker in April passes constitutional muster on all counts and will remain in place for now. Plaintiff landlords had sought a preliminary injunction staying the moratorium while the case is litigated.

  On September 1, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a temporary eviction moratorium to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Under the order, landlords and property owners are prohibited from evicting certain tenants impacted by COVID-19. 

On August 26th, Judge Wilson of the Massachusetts Superior Court issued an order in Matorin v. Commonwealth denying injunctive relief to plaintiffs advocating for the end of the eviction moratorium. Passed into law in April, the eviction moratorium was recently extended by Governor Baker until October 17, 2020 citing the ongoing spread of COVI-19.

CHAPA is seeking an energetic and tech-savvy individual to assist our Communications and Events Manager and Policy Team on a remote basis for 15 hours/week from September through December 2020. The individual we are seeking must be comfortable handling a variety of responsibilities and work well independently. Internship Responsibilities