We believe that “justice is what love looks like in public,” as Dr. Cornel West said. N2N endorses the following bills which, if enacted, would represent real steps toward housing justice, racial justice, and environmental justice in Massachusetts.

Rent Control (S.1299)

• Restores local control over rents – allowing cities/towns to decide how much rent can increase over time – at a time when most working class people are spending 30-50% of our income on rent. 
• Includes a standalone rule for just cause eviction, preventing landlords from evicting tenants for no reason in order to raise rents.

Tenant’s Opportunity to Purchase Act (S.880)

• Gives tenants in apartment buildings the first right of refusal when that building comes up for sale.
• Empowers renters to buy their building and turn in into a “co-op” (a cooperatively owned building where renters would now own their apartments).
• Gives renters ownership, increased property rights, and protects their ability to stay in their homes.

Zero Carbon Renovation Fund (S.2365)

• Creates a $300M fund to make buildings more energy efficient.
• Prioritizes low-income and public housing, schools, and small businesses, making energy efficiency accessible to more communities of color and working class communities.
• Paid for by federal infrastructure dollars.

Healthy Homes Bill (S.881)

• Creates a fund to make energy improvements, make homes lead-safe, and address other habitability concerns such as mold, pests and asbestos. 
• Low-income homeowners can receive this money as a grant, making these important improvements accessible and affordable.
• Imposes temporary rent control and for-cause eviction rules for landlords receiving the funds (small landlords must follow rules to have loans forgiven, large landlords must follow rules to keep loan money).

Felony Enfranchisement Bill (S.8)

• Restores voting rights to people incarcerated on felony convictions.
• Would undo a small but crucial part of the racist legacy of policing and prosecutions in Massachusetts: People incarcerated on felony convictions were stripped of the right to vote in 2000 at the height of the “tough on crime/war on drugs” era, which saw Black and Latino people policed, prosecuted, and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates. To this day, people of color make up 58% of incarcerated people in Massachusetts while accounting for only 18% of the population of the commonwealth. 1.5% of African Americans in Massachusetts cannot vote because they are incarcerated with a felony conviction. 

Affordable Homes Act (H.4148)

• $1.6B for public housing improvements (repair, rehabilitation, and modernization).
• $800M Affordable Housing Trust Fund to incentivize creation and restoration of affordable housing units and increase the overall housing stock, easing the huge burden on existing supply.
• Changes state law to ease municipal rezoning of land for new affordable housing development.
• Creates a statewide Office of Fair Housing.

Endorsement and Support Requests

Would you like to see Neighbor to Neighbor endorse legislation that isn’t yet listed on this site? Submit an Endorsement Request and we’ll be happy to consider.

Do you have another request for support? Submit a Support Request so we can learn more.