Statewide Virtual Meeting Tue Jan 18: Rental Assistance Public Records Lawsuit

This presentation will review the public records lawsuit MassLandlords has filed against the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

To be fair, many people at DHCD and the Regional Administering Agencies (RAAs) have worked extremely hard under difficult circumstances to ramp up the rental assistance program. And overall, they have listened to our suggestions for improvement! But one-third to one-half of all applications for assistance are closed for being "timed out." When we asked DHCD for the data to study the problem in-depth at our own expense, they refused, citing privacy. We will explain:

What we are asking the court to do.
Who is supposed to do it.
Why we care to see these public records.
When we might have an answer.
Why we don't expect to find DHCD terribly at fault (but some RAAs should be worried).

This event is going to be light on slides and heavy on discussion.

Did you know the RAAs are written into the budget by name each year? Close to $1 billion was controlled by roughly twelve no-bid contracts. The state refuses to let us see how they are performing. Attendees will leave knowing why this is a problem and the steps we are taking to bring transparency to rental assistance.

picture of Attorney Peter Vickery — Peter Vickery is an attorney at Bobrowski and Vickery LLC and MassLandlords Legislative Affairs Counsel

This part of the presentation will be given by Peter Vickery of Bobrowski & Vickery, LLC. Attorney Vickery practices law in Western Massachusetts where he focuses on landlord-tenant law (representing landlords in Housing Court) and discrimination defense (representing business owners in the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination). He graduated from Oxford University (Jesus College) with a BA in Modern History; obtained his Post-Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of the West of England in Bristol; his JD from Boston University School of Law; and his Masters in Public Policy & Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Attorney Vickery served one term on the Governor's Council (the elected 8-member body that approves or vetoes the governor's choice of judges in Massachusetts) and on the State Ballot Law Commission. As Legislative Affairs Counsel for MassLandlords he drafts bills, bill summaries, and testimony in the area of housing law, and writes amicus briefs in cases that have strategic significance for rental-property owners.

Patrick Sullivan of Obtainable Sobriety will moderate networking time.
You can volunteer for a future event.

picture of Dana Fogg — Dana Fogg will moderate networking time.
You can volunteer for a future event.

Networking time will be co-moderated by Patrick Sullivan. Patrick has been an avid landlord since 2007 primarily focusing on multi families in the greater Worcester area. Having worked in high level IT his whole life he looks at things from a different perspective which he applies to real estate. He became a Real Estate agent in 2015 and now primarily focuses on Sober living facilities for people recently out of drug and alcohol treatment centers.

Networking time will be co-moderated by Dana Fogg. Dana started his rental business in 1994 with his first Multifamily in Watertown. Since then, Dana and his wife have purchased and sold rental properties around the Metro West area. They now have 9 Units in Watertown and Marlborough. Dana is the Vice President of the Metro West Property Owners Association.

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Open to attendees statewide

You are welcome to participate in this virtual meeting no matter where you are.

Tuesday, January 18^th

Virtual Meeting Agenda

5:00pm Sign-in and virtual networking: you can chit chat with others as people log in
5:40pm Business Update
6:00pm Rental Assistance Public Records Lawsuit
7:00pm Virtual meeting ends

Participation is Easy

We have two formats of online events:

Virtual meetings include optional audience participation via video, phone, and screenshare and are not recorded.
Webinars have limited participation options (typed questions only) and are recorded.

Our virtual registration desk is open for all events one hour starting 30 minutes prior to the event start time. Call 774-314-1896 or email hello@masslandlords.net for live, real-time help signing in and using your technology.

If joining a virtual meeting, please use the zoom "test audio" feature. You will be allowed to talk to others if your microphone is good and there is no background noise. We reserve the right to mute anyone for any reason. Attendees without a microphone or who don't want to be heard can type questions.

Virtual Meeting Details (hosted by Zoom)

We will share our video, audio, and computer screen and slides.

Optional: You can share your video with everyone, talk to everyone, and type chat with everyone. Video sharing is not required. Talking is not required.

Password will be emailed and viewable online.

Topic: Rental Assistance Public Records Lawsuit Virtual Meeting January 18, 2022 Time: Jan 18, 2022 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83916675715 Meeting ID: 839 1667 5715 Passcode: Will be emailed and viewable online Dial by your location +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 839 1667 5715 Passcode: Will be emailed and viewable online Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ktAaZRAli