NEWS

Coalition of Housing Advocacy Orgs Release “A Right to Rental Assistance in Massachusetts” Paper

Dec 14, 2022

A coalition of housing advocacy organizations, including many partners of the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative, released a paper called “A Right to Rental Assistance in Massachusetts: How Policy Change Can Advance Equitable Housing.”

These organizations urge the state to building on existing efforts and strengthen eviction protections, reform zoning rules, reduce landlord discrimination, accelerate new construction, and expand support for first-time homebuyers. The paper argues that “rental assistance helps renters without hurting landlords; it makes housing affordable without
tying developers’ hands; and although it is expensive for the state, it doesn’t impose the kinds of hidden costs that come with alternatives like rent control, which can dampen long-term growth and development.”

Even with a focus on state-level policy, communities working to become age and dementia friendly and focused on housing will find the paper informative and may join advocacy efforts to advance these policies. The paper mentions the benefits to older adults throughout the document.

“The core idea,” according to the paper, “is to ensure that seniors, young parents, and
other folks with incomes too low to afford market rents can get stable housing by splitting
the cost with the state or federal government.”