Letter from the Executive Director for July 2015

It's July and most of the local groups are off until September. But we at MassLandlords are continuing full steam ahead.

Our two priorities for 2015 are economically valuable services and legislatively effective size. On both fronts we're making progress. Members have been taking advantage of their various savings and coupons in increasing numbers.

But I would be lying if I said I was laser-focused on these two goals. It has been difficult not to participate in public policy discussions with landlords and with thought leaders in the state. This work should be done by a full time, paid public policy director. While I focus on growing the association, the public policy director should be having conversations with all the key players to reform landlord-tenant law.

But unlike the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce or the Boston Tenant Coalition, we currently lack any staff for policy work. This is why we are focused on services that landlords will pay for and on growth. Until we reach scale, or unless we come up with a creative alternative, we don't have the resources to afford a public policy director. All conversations about policy reform are therefore somewhat premature. It really is a full time job.

This is the key difference between MassLandlords and past attempts at a landlord trade association. Whereas past attempts have been more or less volunteer-powered, we are building a sustainable foundation, one that can pay for professional staff on an ongoing basis.

The model is working. When last I checked, we had 948 active members and another 50 paper renewals yet to process. We may break 1,000 this month. Over the last 30 days, 4,800 different people have viewed the videos, blog articles, and other free resources on our site, a 4x increase over the same period last year. We are hiring and expanding job responsibilities for our team of (very) part-time employees and contractors.

So thank you for participating. Tell your friends about us. And above all, make sure you are taking advantage of the benefits we have to offer.

Sincerely,
Doug Quattrochi
Executive Director