SEIU 888 is part of a grassroots coalition committed to stopping any evictions or foreclosures during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Housing Stability Guarantee Bill will halt rent increases for 1 year, stop no-fault evictions for 1 year, and ban foreclosures during the Pandemic.

Housing Court officials and landlord advocates are projecting up to 20,000 eviction cases will be in the system right after the current moratorium ends (likely on August 18). Of course that will have a disproportionate impact on Black people, communities of color, lower income, working class people, immigrants, and other vulnerable populations.

If we fail to take decisive action, a massive wave of evictions and foreclosures will cause more infections, hasten displacement, hamper economic recovery, tear communities apart, throw more people into an overwhelmed homelessness system, further entrench racial inequality, and cause untold suffering.

Increased rental assistance is one part of the solution, but the scale of the crisis – with 29% of tenants surveyed by MassINC unable to keep up with all rent payments from April through June – means that approach alone is not nearly enough. There is widespread support for bold action, with the same poll showing 75% of state residents back an extension of the eviction moratorium.

Housing is a human right as well as an economic, social, and racial justice issue. See if your elected official has supported the Bill yet. During this public health crisis, putting people needlessly on the street is not only cruel but also a danger to all of our health.