City Council urges state to extend eviction moratorium

The State’s moratorium stopping most evictions will last until August 18, 2020, or until 45 days after the Governor lifts the state of emergency, whichever comes first.



An end to the moratorium comes at a time when roughly 120,000 households are at risk of being unable to make their housing payments, according to a study by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. A new report from City Life Vida Urbana and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests these evictions are likely to disproportionately impact Black communities.



“Stable and affordable housing is a critical piece of healthy, safe communities, especially while we’re in the midst of a public health crisis and we must treat it as essential,” said Councilor Campbell.



City Life Vida Urbana researchers found that in Boston an outsize number of eviction filings occurred in communities of color between 2014 and 2016. Between March 1, 2020 and April 20, 2020, the weeks in which the COVID-19 virus was spreading in Massachusetts and before the eviction moratorium was signed, 78% of all evictions filed in Boston were in census tracts where the majority of residents are people of color.



“The fact is we are going to face an eviction tsunami when this current eviction moratorium is up. We cannot as legislatures and policy makers sit back and do nothing. We have to do something. This is all on us at this moment. We cannot control nor did we create COVID, but how we respond to this particular crisis should speak to our hearts, our political will and our moral compass. I say this as a landlord — this eviction moratorium needs to continue,” said Councilor Edwards.



The Council adopted a resolution urging the State Legislature and Governor Baker to extend the eviction moratorium for a year after the state of emergency is lifted.