Hundreds filled the State House on Monday, April 7, at two powerful events for the cause of ending homelessness and greater housing justice.
MA Coalition for the Homeless Advocacy Day filled the Great Hall with people impacted by homelessness, their allies and elected officials, urging the Legislature to adopt its legislative priorities (shared by the Network) that would provide critical responses to the current crisis.
Homes for All MA Rent Stabilization Legislative Briefing packed the room to hear from tenants, landlords and legislators about the urgent need to pass rent stabilization and tenant protection.
Western MA showed up, too! We heard from Kate Zanetta, an Easthampton resident who shared her traumatic experience of being given 2 weeks notice to accept a 35% rent increase when her apartment complex was purchased by a real estate investment firm. As Kate put it:
If rents can just go up like this with no limit, how are we supposed to plan or save? Legislators can protect the people of Massachusetts by placing limits on how much these corporate landlords can hike our rents.
We also heard from our Springfield Senator Adam Gómez, a lead sponsor of the rent stabilization bill and several other top Network priorities, who shared the power of his own experience and determination to increase housing stability for all.
Huge thanks to Kate, Senator Gómez, our other legislative champions, and our statewide partners, Homes for All MA, MA Coalition for the Homeless, MA Law Reform Institute and more for their leadership in making all of our voices as powerful as they need to be to make the change happen. We in western MA will keep showing up!
