Letter from the Executive Director for February 2017

There has been much political panic in January. Politics doesn’t move the needle on our mission, though, and it holds us back more than it drives us into the future. So this month I’ll detail what we have accomplished toward revenue and services, give you the lay of the political land, and tell you how you can help us get past politics and back to work.

In terms of our mission, January has been another foundation-laying month. We have been nailing down our processes for five monthly events (Springfield, Sturbridge, Worcester, Marlborough, and Waltham) and starting March 20, we will be holding our first Cambridge event, with none other than the Chief Justice of the Housing Court, Tim Sullivan, coming to get input from landlords. You can see our event listings at MassLandlords.net/events.

We are also working to do right by our advertisers. We want to accelerate newsletter production. We also have a job posting out for a very, very part-time advertising program manager.

Politically speaking we have federal, state, and local levels to worry about.

Federally, Mass Law Reform are concerned that Housing and Urban Development will be cutting funding to local programs. We don’t know whether the new director of HUD will cut Section 8 or what impact this might have on landlords seeking rent increases (see later article in this edition).

At the state level, Massachusetts has started its 2017-2018 legislative session. MassLandlords filed two bills, one to reform the rent escrow law (HD 383, see later article), and one to reform security deposits (HD 2086). There are probably 20 other areas of public policy that need landlord input. Our new Legislative Affairs Counsel, Peter Vickery, is working very, very part time to help us get started.

Locally, Boston mayor Marty Walsh is creating a mess with his recent one-sided home rule petition and ordinance proposals. If enacted, these would be a form of rent control. Mayor Walsh is facing a super pro-tenant challenger this year (mayors are elected in off-years) and has wobbled far to the pro-tenant side, in my view, needlessly. We would have worked with the mayor on some sensible reforms.

To help us, please set your membership to auto-renew by paying with a credit card. We need to count on your long-term support. And if that’s not enough, please become a Property Rights Supporter. This allows you to make extra donations to fund our policy work faster than we can fund it out of program revenue alone.

I’m looking forward to great things ahead as we continue to build the trade association for landlords in Massachusetts. Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Doug Quattrochi
dquattrochi@masslandlords.net