BOSTON – On October 8, 2020, Senator Sal DiDomenico joined Clean Water Action’s 26th Fall Celebration, an annual event to celebrate the successes from the year and honor champions of clean water, clean air, and healthy communities. During the virtual event, Senator DiDomenico was presented with the “Legislative Champion Award” for his work on Environmental Justice (EJ) legislation to eliminate disparities with respect to exposure to environmental toxins.

“It was an honor to presented with the Legislative Champion Award, alongside my partners Representative Liz Miranda, Representative Adrian Madaro, and Representative Michelle DuBois, for our collective work on environmental justice legislation,” said Senator DiDomenico. “This legislation is so important for our communities, and it is even more critical in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am always proud to work with my legislative partners to advocate for justice for our constituents, and I am deeply grateful to Clean Water Action for their unwavering support and work on environmental justice.”

Senator DiDomenico is a lead sponsor of the Environmental Justice Act, which seeks to address the unfair share of environmental pollution faced by a handful of communities by defining disproportionate environmental burdens as injustices and the individuals affected by them as Environmental Justice populations. It further aims to facilitate a more equitable distribution of energy and environmental benefits and burdens throughout the Commonwealth via the expansion of environmental impact reviews, including evaluations by the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Council, which will have direct representation from EJ populations.

For decades, low-income communities & communities of color in the Commonwealth have borne the brunt of the state’s energy choices and have been left out of key decision-making processes. Consequences of these realities have resulted in a disproportionately high rate of COVID infections throughout EJ communities, as represented by data from the MA Dept. of Public health, and related CRESSH study. The CRESSH study, which has modeled COVID infection rates in towns throughout the Commonwealth, indicated during the height of summer infections that EJ communities like Chelsea and Everett faced 2955 and 1770 COVID cases, respectfully, while more affluent communities faced nearly a quarter of these outbreaks.  

“Time and again, cities like Chelsea and Everett have been disproportionately impacted by our long history of short-sighted environmental policies and have taken on this toxic burden for our entire region. It should come as no surprise then that this history has had severe consequences for our health, and EJ cities like those in my district are now the communities most impacted by the COVID-19 virus,” said Senator DiDomenico. “It has never been clearer that we need to pass the Environmental Justice Act this legislative session. Our residents cannot wait for us to take action any longer.” 

The Environmental Justice Act received a favorable report out of the Joint Committee on Environmental, Natural Resources and Agriculture in December of 2019, and is currently pending before the Senate Committee on Ways & Means. Language from the Environmental Justice Act was also included in the House Climate Change bill, which is currently pending before conference committee.  

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BOSTON- Senator Sal DiDomenico recently put out a call to his constituents and residents across the Commonwealth to respond to the 2020 Census. Last week, a federal judge barred the Trump Administration from ending the census count a month early, issuing a temporary injunction that prevents the federal government from halting census-taking on September 30th, a full month before the original October 31st deadline approved by Congress. Senator DiDomenico hailed this decision as a win for hard-to-count communities, like Everett and Chelsea. However, he also warned his constituents not to delay responding to the census, as the recent court decision is likely to be appealed by the Trump Administration. 

“This is a major win for our communities to help ensure that the census count is fair & accurate,” said Senator DiDomenico. “I have been working hard this legislative session to secure state funding to help reach historically hard-to-count communities, like Everett and Chelsea, and the Administration's decision to end the count a month early did nothing to help our efforts. This ruling is a big win, but still so much uncertainty remains. If you haven't responded to the 2020 Census yet, please do not delay any longer. Our district and the entire Commonwealth depend on your household to respond so our communities get the fair share of federal funding and representation that we need and deserve.”

Preparations for the 2020 Census has been a top priority for Senator DiDomenico this legislative session. He has worked closely with the Massachusetts Census Equity Fund to secure funding needed in advance of the 2020 Census and to spread awareness on the importance of a complete and accurate census count. Throughout the legislative session, he has partnered with advocacy organizations to host legislative briefings at the Massachusetts State House to secure support for census funding in the state budget and help legislators and staff understand what is at stake in the 2020 Census. Most recently, the Senator secured funding for the Everett Haitian Community Center and La Comunidad to support additional census outreach in the city of Everett.

Last budget cycle, DiDomenico played a key role in securing funding in the state budget that will help to ensure a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census. The Senator was the lead sponsors of an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget that provided $2.5 million to establish a grant program for statewide census outreach. This grant program will help to support trusted community organizations and grassroots leaders reach historically hard-to-count communities.

While the COVID-19 crisis has created new obstacles to 2020 Census outreach, there are many ways that households can respond to the census without anyone having to come to their door.

Massachusetts residents can respond to the census today:

·       Online at my2020census.gov

·       Over the phone at 1-844-330-2020

·       Or via mail (census forms were mailed to households across the nation last month)

Online responses and those done over the phone are available in over 13 languages. 

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By Major Martin J. Walsh | Commonwealth Magazine

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT of the coronavirus has hurt a lot of people, but few have been hit harder than low-income renters and communities of color. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council estimates that 61,000 households statewide don’t have enough money to pay their rent since the end of the extra unemployment benefit. In Boston, we project more than 15,000 households will have a hard time making rent.

Both the state and federal eviction moratoriums are important tools to keep families secure in the short term, but tenants who lost income will still owe rent. Once the moratoriums end, we expect a surge in eviction proceedings that will be devastating to families, neighborhoods, and our ability to contain COVID-19.

We must take action.

The pace of economic recovery and the prospect of more federal relief are uncertain. But there’s one concrete step that we could take here in the Commonwealth that would make a real difference: provide tenants with legal counsel in eviction proceedings.

The moral case is clear: it’s equal access to justice. We guarantee defendants in criminal cases free legal representation if they can’t afford a lawyer. It’s a fundamental right, because someone’s future is at stake. Shouldn’t people facing evictions in civil proceedings be afforded the same right?

Think about the trauma of being put out of your home by a court order. Families often become homeless after an eviction, severing their access to schools, health care, and food. Even if they get back on their feet, the legal, financial, and employment repercussions can follow them for the rest of their lives. Eviction was once seen as an outcome of poverty, but research now shows that evictions also cause poverty, trapping families in cycles of housing instability and financial chaos. They are an insidious aspect of systemic racism, harming Black and Latino people, especially women and children, at much higher rates.

And yet, the most vulnerable families routinely face these complex legal proceedings without representation. In Massachusetts, landlords have counsel in 78 percent of eviction cases, while tenants are represented in just 9 percent. That means more than 9 out of 10 tenants facing eviction do not have a lawyer for one of the most serious and damaging legal situations they will ever face. That’s not right.

We’ve worked hard in Boston to reduce our eviction rate to one of the lowest among American cities. We created an Office of Housing Stability to help tenants learn their rights and stay in their homes. This year alone, we’ve placed hundreds of people in permanent, affordable housing, including a special program for families of Boston Public School students. We were one of the first cities to establish our own rental relief fund, and we’ve extended the eviction moratorium at Boston Housing Authority properties until December 31, to protect our lowest income residents.

We’ve also spent two years working with our partners in the Legislature, including Sen. Sal DiDomenico and Rep. Chynah Tyler, on a statewide right to counsel law.

Now, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis presents a new level of danger. The economic fallout is threatening to spike housing instability, which could worsen the outbreak as more people seek shelter or crowd into apartments. Black and Latino families have already been hit the hardest by COVID-19, and they will be the most affected by evictions. The situation demands an urgent and targeted response.

That’s why concerned communities, including 22 mayors, have come together with legislators around a new plan. The Massachusetts Right to Counsel Coalition is asking the state to dedicate $6 million from federal CARES Act funds to establish a right-to-counsel pilot program for low-income tenants and homeowners in eviction proceedings.

This is not about stacking the deck against landlords, it’s about leveling the playing field. Evidence from other cities shows that providing tenants with representation not only keeps more people in their homes, it gets better results for both tenants and landlords. Counsel can help negotiate mutually beneficial outcomes, such as a realistic payment plan or time to find alternative housing.

It would also save the state money. A report by the Boston Bar Association found that providing legal representation in eviction proceedings pays for itself more than twice over, in savings on the shelter, health care, and foster care costs associated with homelessness.

We are facing multiple crises: a health crisis in COVID-19, the resulting economic crisis, and a crisis of systemic racism that’s existed for far too long. Giving low-income renters a fair chance in eviction proceedings helps on all three fronts.

By piloting a right to counsel at this pivotal moment, we can start to make good on our goal of building a new normal that’s better than before. This is an opportunity to provide Massachusetts families with help they desperately need, and I urge our state lawmakers to make it happen.

Martin J. Walsh is mayor of Boston.

Source: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/courts/tenants-facing-eviction-need-legal-representation/