Boston says it will resume accepting applications for its rental assistance fund for lower-income residents at risk of eviction, with $5 million available.
Created in early April to help Boston residents at risk of losing their housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the expiration of the state eviction moratorium Saturday. The money will supplement $171 million in state resources announced by Gov. Charlie Baker last week, and a declaration by some of the city’s biggest landlords that they would not file evictions against tenants at least through Christmas.
City officials say the fund has distributed more than $3 million in payments to landlords on behalf of more than 1,000 households over the last six months, more than half of whom earn less than $58,000 per year with two income earners.
“As we continue to face the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s vital that we provide residents with the resources and supports they need to stay housed, especially with the statewide moratorium on evictions lifted,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. “I’m proud that we are able to reopen the Rental Relief Fund so that we can expand our assistance for residents to ensure they remain housed during and after the pandemic.”
To qualify, a renter must:
- Earn less than 80 percent Area Median Income (AMI) or $90,650 for a family of four,
- Be financially impacted by COVID-19,
- Be renters in Boston as of March 1,
- Certify they do not receive a rental subsidy or have funds to meet their needs and
- Not be a full-time student.
The city funds can be used for up to three months and be used to supplement a tenant’s partial rent payments. Each household can receive up to $4,000 per year.
A person’s immigration status is not asked during the Rental Relief Fund application process and receiving funds does not impact other financial assistance that a person may be already receiving. Additionally, assistance from the Rental Relief Fund does not affect immigration applications as a “public charge” ground of inadmissibility, city officials said.
Although the state eviction moratorium ended Oct. 17, a federal freeze issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remains in effect until Dec. 31, although landlords may issue notices to quit and file eviction cases in state Housing Court before then.
Public officials and housing experts fear up to 60,000 households could be at risk of eviction based on Census Bureau data, but fewer than 10 eviction cases were filed in the state’s housing courts as of Tuesday night, according to the state court system’s online dockets.
However, before a landlord can begin an eviction case against a tenant, the landlord must send a notice to quit that gives at least 14-days’ notice before beginning the eviction case, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said. If there is no rent owed, the landlord must give 30-day notice. Once those periods have passed, landlords can file summary process complaints to begin the eviction trial process, although the state court system will encourage tenants and landlords to go through a mediation process before proceeding with an eviction trial.
Market-watchers estimate these delays will mean most eviction orders for cases filed after the moratorium will be delayed to 2021, although housing activists worry notices to quit may scare many tenants into leaving their homes before they are legally obligated to do so.
“The state’s focus must now be centered around getting the funding and assistance our landlords need to stay afloat and to help tenants stay in their homes,” Healey said in a statement late Monday. “It’s critical that the Baker administration prioritize the hiring of additional legal counsel and mediators to assist tens of thousands of landlords and tenants in the courts and when applying for rental assistance. The administration must streamline applications so they can actually be accessed and processed as soon as possible. Making these services available has to be a top priority with the cold weather approaching and landlords and tenants already at their breaking points. We can dBoston says it will resume accepting applications for its rental assistance fund for lower-income residents at risk of eviction, with $5 million available.o this, we just need to get it done now for the process to work.”
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