Letter from the Executive Director for June 2015

Let me share with you one piece of good news and then some thoughts on public policy advocacy.

The good news is that on May 19, the MetroWest Property Owners Association (MWPOA) joined us. They enrolled 74 landlords with email addresses, and more will come online over time. The group is geographically significant, since they close the gap between Worcester and Boston. MassLandlords territory now covers 100 miles of turnpike. As of last week, we had 906 paid and active members, and many more on our mailing lists.

In tandem with this service launch we also completed our acquisition of the domains MassLandlords.com and MassLandlords.org. This clears up any brand confusion that may have existed.

(In case you were wondering, MassLandlords.net will remain the primary brand in writing. The "net" is modern. It is used by major brands, like payment processor Authorize.net. And we have invested in the logo design, which clearly emphasizes state and local perspectives combined, as in MassLandlords.net/RHAGS. By including the .net, each logo is also a valid website address. In conversation, you can say simply "MassLandlords.")

Our growing unity is important to the state legislature. As proof of this, you can consider our seat on the Senate's Special Commission on Housing. I have explained before how this became possible only after consistent contact with a key senator and after we had demonstrated an ability to pull together landlords across the state.

Public policy advocacy is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is the single unifying theme about which all our members agree. The laws here are not in alignment with best practices. They can be so much better. We can change them. We will change them.

But on the other hand, advocating for changes now, as amateurs, seems likely to drain away the last of our volunteer energies for uncertain success. The professional associations, the tenant advocates, the advocates for extremely large landlords like the Greater Boston Real Estate Board -- these all have paid staff. We need paid staff to operate at their level.

The path to paid staff is through revenue. We need to sell things that landlords care about. Our memberships, for instance, all come with access to download and customize updated, compliant rental forms. This is valuable. We need this and more. We already have revenue from multiple sources, and we're running more pilots as I write this.

Can't we advocate a little bit? This sentiment pops up regularly among the leadership. The short answer is "yes." But what does it look like? Will we be at public hearings? No.

• Our volunteers are having one-on-one conversations with legislators behind the scenes.
• Our limited staff are providing data that other groups can use in testimony at hearings.
• Our data have been used in actual testimony (SPOA and NWCLA cited us at the May 12 hearing on rent escrow) and will be used again.
• Professional opinion from third party advisers is to craft a single bill to which all parties can agree, including tenant advocates.
• We will work up to the point of crafting a single bill in each policy area. We aren't there yet.
• We will keep in contact with other landlord advocates, like SPOA, GBREB, and NWCLA to try to align our talking points and our separate volunteer efforts.

The MassLandlords strategy remains "get revenue for professional public policy staff." So be patient. In the meantime, take advantage of the memberships and benefits we offer. We will change the laws. It will just take a little time.

Sincerely,
Doug Quattrochi
Executive Director
C: 617-285-7255