Legislative Update from Preti Strategies for August 2023

The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate have wrapped up the first half of their two-year, 2023-2024 legislative session. So far, most of the work has been at the committee level, with only a handful of non-local legislation passing—the most prominent of which is the annual state budget.  

On the positive side, the budget allocates $1 billion in spending for housing programs, including $190 million for the Rental Assistance for Families in Transition, or “RAFT” program, which provides funds to compensate rental property owners when eligible tenants don’t pay. However, the budget also makes permanent certain ‘protections’ for tenants which were initially presented as temporary pandemic-era measures.  Chief among these are rules that forbid evictions when a tenant has an application for rental assistance pending with the state. Abuse of this program is a real problem for rental housing providers and, because of this, SPOA joined other housing provider groups in opposing its revival. As of the writing of this update, the budget bill is currently on Governor Healey's desk and she has ten days to review it.

Most of the other policy issues that SPOA is tracking, including rent control, right-of-first refusal, and right to counsel for tenants in eviction cases have been pushed to the autumn at the earliest. As these issues come before their respective committees for public hearings, SPOA will be testifying on behalf of rental property owners.

by Jim Eisenberg