Yesterday, I met a woman named Deb in
Leominster, MA. She has been homeless for over 5 years and is living
in a van. She was evicted five years ago under court judgement for non
payment. In her story, she states that she was really evicted as
retribution for calling the board of health and the fire department for
gas leaks. Unfortunately, she did not use her legal rights to present
her case well, and did not claim retribution which is illegal under
state law, and she did not file an appeal within 14 days.
I
was unable to find anything that allowed her to attempt to expunge her
record after her appeal period was over. I felt so sad that this woman
will be forced to be homeless for life because of her eviction.
Doing research today, I found that currently in Massachusetts there is no way to request your record be expunged in the interest of justice. If you miss your appeal period, you fall through the cracks for life.
I also learned that if someone filed to evict you in MA, your record is exposed online. See: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/court-database-shouldnt-be-landlord-screening-tool/
Very Rarely do I ever agree with the ACLU, but today I do. The ACLU has supported: Massachusetts S.824 and H.3566 – An Act Promoting Housing Opportunity
and Mobility Through Eviction Sealing. See: https://www.aclum.org/sites/default/files/20190716_homes_act_testimony.pdf
The bill is stuck in Judiciary committee. I ask you to write and support this bill.
