Posted by Justin Martin, GBIO

The time has come--the legislative session has closed, and we finally have definitive versions of the annual state budget as well as the highly-anticipated housing bond bill, the Affordable Homes Act. Now that these items have been signed by the Governor, let's take a look at where things stand for our campaign's priorities.

THE WINS

Annual Budget
Public Housing - The operating budget for state housing authorities has been increased to $113 million! This is a significant increase from last year's original proposal of $92 million. Though we and our allies continue to uplift that the need for our housing authorities is over $180 million, we are pleased to see that our advocacy moved the needle in the right direction. We are optimistic that state leadership will continue to see the importance of this item in future sessions. This money will slightly improve the ability of our housing authorities to hire workers to carry out much-needed repairs, improving conditions for tenants.

Affordable Homes Act (Housing Bond Bill)
Public Housing - This one is major! The bond bill includes what is possibly the largest potential investment in the health of our public housing portfolio in Massachusetts history. Our many rallies, actions, and meetings have led to a massive $2.2 billion authorization for capital funding for the repair and improvement of public housing units. To put this in perspective, the previous five-year bond bill only included $600 million for public housing. This increase represents a monumental shift in how our legislators prioritize public housing. While the money still must eventually be released and effectively distributed, we are optimistic that the Healey Administration will ensure the tenant experience is vastly improved through major capital repairs made possible by these funds.

Everyone deserves a home. When spent, this money will make an enormous difference in the lives of the over 70,000 of our most vulnerable residents and provide an example for the nation about the importance of safe and decent public housing.

GBIO, your tireless work over the past two years led to this moment. This is your victory! Every relational meeting, listening session and action was pivotal in shifting our state's conversation around housing. Additionally, we acknowledge that this would not have happened without our pursuit of relationships with our Representatives and Senators on Beacon Hill. Please consider taking time to call or email your legislators and thank them for passing the budget and Affordable Homes Act!
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Need to find your legislator's contact information? Click here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

By Daniel Kool, Boston Globe

​The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization is calling on the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a handful of measures that would expand funding for affordable housing, earmark more than $1 billion for the maintenance of existing units, and make pursuing a home easier for individuals leaving prison.
The organization’s requests were outlined in an open letter to leaders of the state Legislature, which was released Sunday afternoon, as more than 1,700 community members, many of them representing dozens of advocacy organizations from as far as Martha’s Vineyard, filled the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center Sunday afternoon to discuss GBIO’s requests.

'Charlie Homer, co-chair of the event and a leader of the campaign’s legislative engagement team, told the Globe before the event began that GBIO has long pushed for the state to expand funding and available resources for affordable housing, but Sunday’s action was designed to put new pressure on legislators to pass requests already on the table, including components of Governor Maura Healey’s Affordable Homes Act.
“Today is about moving our housing justice campaign closer to the finish line,” Homer told the crowd in his opening remarks. “Everyone deserves a home.”
Homer said in an interview that he was “really thrilled to see that the governor put forward $1.6 billion” to maintain public housing in the bond bill, as well as a provision to allow real estate transfer fees to fund affordable housing. Over months of advocacy, Homer said he has heard from tenants who, while thankful to have a place to live at all, deal with crumbling affordable housing units.

“Because of the chronic underfunding, we’re losing units,” Homer said. “And because they’re unlivable, they’re not able to turn units over when people leave.”
The letter is addressed to a half-dozen Democratic state lawmakers, including House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and Senator Lydia Edwards, who chairs the Joint Committee on Housing.

Its signatories include more than 150 clergy representing a range of faiths and a broad swath of cities and towns, who argue that the Bible and other holy texts make repeated arguments in favor of securing housing for all, especially society’s most vulnerable.
“And yet, too many of our people live in neglected public housing that endangers their health due to pets, mold, and asbestos,” the clergy wrote in the letter.
In its letter, GBIO outlines five specific requests for the Legislature to complete before the end of its session. They include nearly doubling the public housing operating budget, bringing it from $107 million to $189 million; passing at least $1.6 billion in capital repair funding for public housing, outlined in Healey’s Affordable Homes Act, to maintain existing developments; and increasing funding for rental certificates for formerly incarcerated people enrolled in case management.
The letter also calls for the state to grant city and town governments the ability to establish local real estate transfer feeds to raise money for affordable housing, and to guarantee identification for individuals coming out of prison, who may otherwise struggle to apply for work or housing assistance.
Leslie Credle, executive director of Justice 4 Housing, which provides support for individuals involved in the justice system, said some people grapple with severed ties to loved ones after spending time in prison, which makes finding housing even more difficult.

“Housing is already a major issue, and we were like last on the totem pole,” Credle said.
Jamal Gooding, executive director of Boston-based People Affecting Community Change, said people released from prison often find themselves without identification, meaning they cannot cash checks or apply for housing.
“I’m asking all 1,700 with you to shout with me very proud to our Senate leaders,” Gooding said, pounding his fist on the podium. “Enough is enough.”
Some attendees signed pledge cards, vowing to call their representatives Monday morning and join an in-person lobbying day at the State House on April 17.
Among them was Michele Frazier, a 63-year-old who lives in public housing in Wellesley, who said the attendance at Sunday’s event gave her hope for the future of Healey’s bill and, with it, her own housing situation.
“Seeing all this is a positive image,” Frazier said, after chanting with fellow attendees that housing is a fundamental right. “Everything looks like it’s going up.”
State Senator Liz Miranda and Representatives Rob Consalvo of Boston and Mike Connolly of Cambridge — all Democrats — told the crowd that housing remains an urgent need across the state, and they praised Healey’s bond bill and its focus on affordability.
Consalvo said there is “no more important issue in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” drawing cheers and applause from the crowd.
Phil Hillman, leader of St. Paul AME Church in Cambridge and an organizer with GBIO’s strategy team, said in an interview that the legislators’ support was extremely valuable, but he argued that change requires support from House and Senate leadership.

“We do have legislators here. They’re a part of it,” Hillman said. The key question, he argued, is: “Who’s missing?”

Read the original story here.

With enhanced COVID-19 unemployment insurance approved by Congress, many homeowners
may be able to receive close to 100% of their previous income by filing for unemployment. This
could enable homeowners to continue paying their mortgage. If this is possible for homeowners,
it is the always best option and will result in no extra costs now or in the future.

If it is not possible, here are our suggestions for what a homeowners should expect from their
lender during this crisis. MAHA is ready to help those homeowners who took our class in the
past and/or have a mortgage from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership SoftSecond or ONE
Mortgage programs.

1. Suspension of payments for up to 6 months with skipped principal and interest payments placed at the end of the 30 year term either in a lump sum or by extending the term.
   
2. No late payment fees or penalties or interest on missed payments
   
3. No negative reporting to credit bureaus
   
4. Easy, simple ways to get assistance from lenders that relies on self-certification
   
5. Lenders pay taxes and insurance during forbearance period (also due from homeowner at end of term)
   

The key to all of this is what lenders will do in negotiating with borrowers. It is typical for
lenders to offer forbearance but then to expect repayment over a relatively short period of time
(3-6 months or so). That will increase a homeowner’s monthly obligation substantially as they
try to pay their regular mortgage payment plus a portion of what is owed.

Given that the recovery from this crisis is likely to be slow for many, the only feasible solution is
to move the missed payments to the back end of the loan when the borrower has many more
options. What is key, however, is that the lender not capitalize the arrears and collect interest on
the missed payments. In one scenario for a borrower that is in the second year of paying their
mortgage, missing $1,700 in three months of interest payments would result in them paying an
additional $4,490 by the end of the 30 year term.

Dear Governor Charlie Baker,

The world is in crisis and now more than ever we appreciate your resolute leadership. 74 of
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization Friends and allies representing civic sector institutions –
communities of faith, unions, social service providers, healthcare centers and schools – are
deeply committed to assisting in the fight against COVID-19. Though we are no strangers to
crisis, this one is truly unprecedented. In this time of crisis, we are called by our faith to honor
the sanctity of human life and to exercise our Prophetic voice with the most vulnerable among
us. We are writing to you for two purposes. The first is to extend an offer of help during this
unprecedented crisis.

We are willing to step up in a range of ways, including mobilizing our people for any job
that keeps us safe and pursuing any other possible ways to help. We will do anything in our
power to slow the spread of this epidemic, treat the sick and aid in the recovery.

The Honorable Governor Charles Baker
Senate President Karen Spilka
Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo
Members of the Massachusetts Legislature

We call upon the Governor, Senate, and House to pass a clear moratorium on evictions and
foreclosures NOW and support renters and homeowners across the Commonwealth during
this global COVID-19 pandemic.

As the first day of the month comes and goes, hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts renters
and homeowners agonize over whether they will be able to make rent and mortgage payments or
be forced to face eviction and homelessness, at a time when they have been told to stay home.
We urge the Governor and the Legislature to take meaningful and swift action to protect the lives
of Massachusetts renters and homeowners during this unprecedented public health crisis.by
passing a strong eviction moratorium.

At its core, a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures is an emergency public health protection
measure, one that must match the extraordinary restrictions already placed on businesses,
schools, and workers across the globe. Governor Baker has reiterated the need to stay home and
maintain social distancing, the best protection against preventing COVID-19 infections. The
Governor and public health officials have warned that the worst is yet to come in Massachusetts.
Keeping people at home is a matter of life and death.

In order to meet these critical public health goals it is imperative that evictions be paused from
start to finish. Placing a clear and temporary freeze on all aspects of eviction is the only way to
ensure that people stay in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. There are several key
principles that we believe must be included in any eviction moratorium legislation for it to meet
its public health goals:

1. The moratorium must apply to all stages of eviction. This must explicitly include a temporary ban on:
   a. sending a Notice to Quit or termination of tenancy letter;
   b. filing (including electronically) a new eviction case;
   c. serving a summons and complaint on a tenant;
   d. scheduling non-emergency court hearings or events;
   e. entering judgments for possession (whether by default, agreement, or other);
   f. levying on executions to forcibly remove tenants.
   
2. The moratorium should not contain only very narrow exceptions that allow certain evictions to move forward. In the event of an dire emergency, law enforcement agencies are still be available and landlords and tenants can file emergency actions under the trial court’s current standing orders.
   
3. The moratorium must remain in place at least until the Governor’s emergency declaration is rescinded plus a reasonable recovery period thereafter.
   

The House has now passed a moratorium bill, H.4615. That bill addresses many of the key
principles noted above, and is a strong foundation for enacting a pause on evictions. That
temporary pause must start from the first eviction notice sent to a tenant through the time a
tenant could be forcibly removed from her home by a sheriff. H.4615 can and should be further
improved, mainly by ensuring that any exceptions to the moratorium are narrow and reflect only
the most serious emergencies, and also by simplifying the language that pauses late fees. But it
is a good starting place and we urge that, with these improvements, it be enacted as soon as
possible.

Since March 16, 2020, when the courts began instituting closures and reduced services, over 480
new eviction cases have been filed in Massachusetts Housing Courts. This number represents
hundreds of families possibly endangering themselves, their friends and families, and the public
as they may move or become homeless.

We, and our broad network of organizations, stand ready to work together to consider next-phase
issues with the time and consideration they deserve, including how to provide mortgage and rent
relief, how federal legislation will affect Massachusetts, and other questions that will arise as we
anticipate the end of the emergency. However, in order to protect lives today we urge the
Governor and the Legislature to act decisively to pass an eviction and foreclosure moratorium
that will keep our citizens and community safe.

We appreciate the efforts that Senate President Spilka, Speaker DeLeo, and other members and
their staff have made to listen to and consider our proposals. We thank you for leadership during
this difficult time.

​836 strong, GBIO joined the MA Senate President, Senate Health Care Finance Chair,  and Secretary of Health and Human Services on Monday, November 4th to push for progress on health care in Massachusetts. All three politicians have released, or committed to, legislation that addresses the 3 priority issues in GBIO’s health care legislative campaign: 

1. Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs
2. Eliminating Out-of-network Surprise Billing
3. Increasing Access to Affordable Mental
   Health Care

​Last October, at a gathering of 1,487 Greater Boston Interfaith Organization leaders, Somali mothers told stories of their children playing on an unfenced cliff at a local playground. In response to their organizing, City Councilor Kim Janey answered their call to become the “champion of Jeep Jones Park.” Janey organized a walk-through of the park with Boston’s Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, Christopher Cook, and negotiated with the Mayor’s Office to put $100,000 for improvements to Jeep Jones Park into the city’s upcoming capital budget.

This day of action was part of a broader GBIO Health Care legislative campaign that will span the legislative session and build on past victories in health care. In this legislative campaign, GBIO is pushing for real reform in the current session of the Massachusetts Legislature by: 

• Lowering Prescription Drug Costs
• Increasing Access to Affordable Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Care
• Regulating Out-of-network “Surprise” Bills

​

​Massachusetts consumers and taxpayers will save over one billion dollars of healthcare costs over the next seven years as a result of price caps established in response to action by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO). The cost savings are based on a report by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, a state research agency established by a law championed by GBIO in 2012.

Beth Israel and Lahey Health Systems and a combination of 13 hospitals have been attempting to merge into a single healthcare system since the beginning of 2017. By forming the second largest healthcare system in Massachusetts, BILH believes it will be better able to compete against Partners Healthcare, the dominant healthcare system in Massachusetts. GBIO has been fighting for consumers and taxpayers to ensure that the merger would not cause a dramatic increase in costs. When the Health Policy Commission predicted that the merger would drive up healthcare costs by as much as $230 million dollars per year, GBIO challenged Attorney General Maura Healey and other state agencies to protect consumers from this outrageous increase in cost.

At a 1400-person action, held on October 22nd at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, GBIO leaders called on Attorney General Maura Healey to fight for conditions “with teeth” in the proposed merger, to protect consumers from increasing costs and declining access, particularly for low income and communities of color.

On November 29th, she announced an unprecedented seven-year price cap to ensure that Beth Israel Lahey Health does not take advantage of its market power to increase its prices. The agreement between Attorney General Healy and BILH also addressed other GBIO demands, including improved access for the Massachusetts Medicaid population and $72 million in support of lower-cost settings for healthcare.

In an interview with WBUR radio, Bonny Gilbert, co-chair of the GBIO healthcare action team, said, "We would like to see this kind of stronger language at least be the beginnings of more constraints on Partners and some of the other health care providers." And, says Gilbert, the caps must not be allowed to expire for BILH.

WCVB Channel 5 highlighted GBIO’s involvement in this merger.

“When We Fight, We Win!”
Leaders from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, and allies, chanted in victory at the MA Statehouse on April 13th as Governor Baker signed a sweeping criminal justice bill into law – the first of its kind in decades. Since 2015, GBIO has fought for strong reforms by targeting four issues, designed to reduce barriers to a fair criminal justice system that have disproportionately affected poor people and people of color. All four of GBIO’s priority issues were included in the recent law:

• Reduction in the use of Mandatory Minimums for drug sentencing
• Reduction of fines and fees for probation and parole
• Changing bail requirements for those unable to pay
• Regulation and reduction in the use of Solitary Confinement

​
 Beverly Williams, co-chair of GBIO’s Criminal Justice Team said, “The new law is not perfect, but it is meaningful legislation for Massachusetts. Reform leaders worked tirelessly for 3 years to make this happen.”  Through legislator meetings, relationship building, and a series of large actions, GBIO helped shape comprehensive Criminal Justice reform bills that, despite early resistance, passed the House and Senate by veto-proof majorities in late 2017. A reconciliation bill proceeded behind closed doors for 4 months. 

The ultimate bill included GBIO’s four issues, as well as many other issues of interest to GBIO and allies. It passed unanimously in the Senate (37-0) and nearly unanimously in the House (148-5) and was signed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. 

Co-Chair Alan Epstein said, “It is a huge step forward for the state in our efforts to reduce mass incarceration, eliminate racial disparities, reduce costs and introduce fairness, compassion and intelligence into our criminal legal system. Everyone in Massachusetts will benefit from what we did.”
Read more here: http://baystatebanner.com/news/2018/mar/29/criminal-justice-reform-bill-turning-point-massach/