Mayor Marty Walsh supports the concept of a "just cause eviction" petition circulated by housing activists and is working with his staff on ways it could be implemented in the city, he told Boston Public Radio Tuesday.
Under current law, landlords in Massachusetts can evict tenants "no fault," or without giving reason. Under the "just cause" petition, landlords would have to provide reason—like failure to pay or breaking a lease—in order to evict, and tenants would be granted the right to a mediation meeting with the landlord and a third party in the case of large rent increases. Critics of the "no fault" policy say it facilitates drastic rent increases and flipping properties over to developers.
"We're looking at it now," Walsh said. "Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing, and Joyce Linehan, Chief of Policy, we've had some conversation about this and how it works."
"If everything worked out positively we could do something, absolutely," he said.
The petition is the product of the Right To Remain Coalition, a collection of housing activists from all over the city, and is hosted online at MoveOn.org, where it currently has 203 signatures. Several city councilors attended a rally hosted by Right To Remain in October.
Walsh also stressed the need to properly fund the MBTA, which -- in the exchange below with Jim Braude -- Walsh clearly thinks is being shortchanged.
WALSH: The problem at the MBTA is obviously some systems breakdown. It’s ultimately a cash problem. You have to get money into the T. You can’t reform or cut your way into having a good T service.
BRAUDE: What do you mean, let’s expand on that…
WALSH: In English, basically, you need revenue. This is a revenue problem with the MBTA. I was a member of the legislature for 17 years. Over 17 years there was many efforts in different governors and administrations and administrations at the T doing cutbacks trying to invest in the MBTA. Ultimately it comes down to creating a new, fixing the system. When I say fixing the system I mean the actual physical system, the third rails and the stations and the cars and things like that. That’s going to take revenue. You need revenue for that.
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