Letter from the Executive Director for January 2025: Last Push for Eviction Data

In December we contributed further to the Mass Save three-year plan, made progress toward releasing monthly dues, and started one last push for eviction data before MassCourts.org becomes unreliable, among other things.

First, the upcoming Mass Save three-year plan stands to be transformative for landlords in 21 “designated equity communities,” so named because they are proposed for intensive, redistributive investment in the 2025 to 2027 plan. Renters and housing providers have historically lagged in Mass Save participation. The new program, if approved by the Department of Public Utilities, will provide hundreds of millions of dollars to decarbonize rental housing. We submitted 20 pages of written testimony in support to back up the in-person testimony I gave.

Another important but overlooked role of rental housing in climate change mitigation is removing invasive plants from rental properties. Invasive plants are slowly but measurably driving up costs for local farms, increasing costs of produce and thereby contributing to renter financial instability. Many private properties in Massachusetts have become unwitting sources of invasive weeds. We’ve been reaching out to state scientists to learn what we can recommend to you all. I’ve also taken a short design course to help us understand what landscaping recipes we can recommend to support local agriculture with low or no maintenance. Interestingly, there are no-mow lawn replacements available that won’t trigger inspectional services. Stay tuned for more.

Our development team has come up to speed on our new website framework. We have finished our work to automate the weekly email digest, as well as the new signup experience for members once we launch monthly dues. We are testing and making the code robust. We are aware the site runs slowly and will address that after monthly dues.

Eviction sealing takes effect in five months. We have started a final push with our data gathering team to move our database “start date” to April 2018, a full year earlier than our earliest record at present. This will support our attempt to publish a paper (already written) that examines the impact of evictions on the local community.

Lastly, it has come to my attention that social security numbers are available for purchase on the web and widely sought after (according to Google analytics traffic for a campaign shared with us). These so-called “renter identification numbers” make it morally obligatory for careful landlords to verify government issued ID before submitting any information to a background check company. If you cannot be sure that the person holding the ID owns the social they are providing, you could be at grave financial risk. And you could be inadvertently facilitating identity theft. RentHelper now verifies IDs.

Thank you for supporting our mission to create better rental housing. We've got your back only because you've got ours. Please join as a member, encourage others to join, become a property rights supporter or increase your level of support. We aim to hire both a full-time educator and policy advocate.

Sincerely,

Douglas Quattrochi

Executive Director

MassLandlords, Inc.