Evictions begin as shield drops
Slow start belies expected ‘tsunami’ in state Housing Court
On the first day Housing Courts began processing evictions after a sevenmonth ban blocking foreclosures and tenant removals expired, there was little sign of the predicted “tsunami” of eviction filings to come.
“It’s desolate,” landlord Leo Sheehan said of New Bedford Housing Court on Monday.
Sheehan was eager to restart the eviction process started prior to the coronavirus pandemic for the tenant of his sole income property. Sheehan, who is retired, is looking to sell the New Bedford condominium he’s rented for nearly two decades but said his tenant stopped paying rent and stopped answering his calls after the temporary moratorium was enacted in April as cities and towns locked down and millions lost their jobs.
His tenant would have been evicted on April 1 and now with the go-ahead from the court he can finally move forward with the process, but still says he has no idea when they will be forced to move out. A constable will serve the tenant a 30-day notice on Tuesday, Sheehan said.
For the nearly 12,000 eviction proceedings like Sheehan’s stuck in limbo throughout the ban, it means landlords can move to evict, but they likely won’t be able to actually evict their renters until next year at the earliest.
A federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium on evictions of renters who meet income guidelines will stop tenant removals through the end of the year. The ban is being challenged in several courts nationwide, but Gov. Charlie Baker has said it would offer protection here in Massachusetts.
For the more than 80,000 renter and owner households a recent Metropolitan Area Planning Council report identifed as at risk of immediate eviction due to the pandemic, the Baker administration has pledged the process will go even slower.
Trial Court officials could not immediately respond to a Herald request for information about the number of eviction filings on Monday.
Housing advocates have warned of a coming wave of evictions and the courts have recalled 15 retired judges to aid with the deluge.
Baker laid out a $171 million eviction diversion plan last week that includes a $100 million injection of cash into the state’s main rental assistance program and introduces a “two-tier” system for evictions in the Housing Court designed to avoid evictions and mediate tenant-landlord disputes.
The plan has been endorsed by landlord groups, but advocates warn it’s “not a sufficient safety net” to support the thousands of renters who have fallen behind on rent and could soon be forced out onto the streets.
“People need to be able to stay in their homes to stay safe from the pandemic,” Karen Chen of the Chinese Progressive Association said.