BREAKING: Over 100,000 Massachusetts households face eviction when the moratorium expires in 5 days — but the House hasn’t scheduled any formal sessions this week, and @MassGovernor is now working behind closed doors on his own plan that won’t protect our most vulnerable renters.

Our movement is united in support of the comprehensive #COVID19 Housing Stability Act — this is the bill that will guarantee protections for our most vulnerable renters and homeowners while providing relief to all, including small landlords. https://www.housingguarantee.org 

We’ve made great progress on this bill. 90 co-sponsors, 200+ organizational sponsors, and a 14-2 vote in support by the legislature’s Housing Committee earlier this month. Even the Roman Catholic Church is calling on legislative leaders to bring our bill to a vote immediately!

Now, with just 5 days to go until the eviction and foreclosure moratorium is due to expire — and with no formal House sessions scheduled this week — AND with #COVID19 cases rising in Massachusetts at an alarming rate and the cold weather moving in — we face an imminent crisis...

Meanwhile, @MassGovernor’s advisors have been meeting in secret with Judges, real estate industry folks, landlords, and other advocates to come up with a plan to process some 100,000 evictions starting next week...exactly who is involved is hard to say because it’s closed door.

Numerous sources — people involved in these talks and people with direct knowledge of the talks — tell me @MassGovernor will announce he’s letting the moratorium expire while also directing additional CARES Act funds to rental assistance, right to counsel, and public information.

To be sure, additional funding for rental assistance programs such as RAFT + ERMA, the creation of a right to counsel in eviction cases, and a public education campaign are all good, constructive measures that will help people. I appreciate @MassGovernor’s support of these steps.

However, we have to be realistic about how our most vulnerable residents will fall through the cracks of Gov. Baker’s pending housing stability plan. My understanding is there are many gaps in his plan, and it’s being drafted and rolled out on a ridiculously rushed timeline...

As soon as the headline “MORATORIUM LIFTED” splashes across peoples screens, landlords will start sending Notices to Quit and will start telling tenants that they have to get out. An N2Q is *not* an eviction...but it you don’t have a law degree, it’s hard to figure that out.