Eviction records used to follow people for life, advocates say. A new law that went into effect on Monday allows some renters to seal those records, eliminating barriers to housing.
For advocates in Hampden County, which has some of the highest eviction rates in the state, the new law is welcome.
“Those records are public, so landlords would deny renters apartments no matter the reason an eviction was filed,” said Rose Webster-Smith, the executive director of Springfield No One Leaves.
The organization works to organize with tenants and residents most deeply impacted by the housing crisis. Webster-Smith sat in Housing Court as she took the call.
In 2024, there were over 4,000 eviction filings in Hampden County, Webster-Smith said. Only about 254 of those filings, 6%, have resulted in an eviction so far.
Hampden County has the highest rate of evictions of any county in Massachusetts, according to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a quasi-governmental non-profit that works to increase the housing supply.
“Eviction is distressingly common here (in Hampden County) and has profound effects on renters,” said Gerry McCafferty, Springfield’s director of housing, who is in favor of the new law.
McCafferty couldn’t say specifically if one demographic is disproportionately impacted by evictions in Springfield.
“We know that low-income residents feel the effects deeply,” she said. “There is an unfair impact.”
When reached by phone Thursday, a clerk with the Western Housing Court said it could not immediately provide information on how many people have filed petitions to seal their eviction records.
Meanwhile, there have been skeptics of the bill, like Doug Quattrochi, the executive director of MassLandlords, who said the move does not solve any particular issue.
Quattrochi said eviction record sealing just “attempts to hide the data from landlords,” Quattrochi said, but there are still ways to get access to a person’s eviction record. For instance, cases can be found by searching for other parties in the case, he said.
The provision was first filed by state Sen. Lydia Edwards, D-Boston. It was supported by many Western Massachusetts lawmakers, including state Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow. The provision was a piece of the omnibus housing bill, the Affordable Homes Act, passed last August.
“We’re hearing from constituents about rising rents and this real estate crisis,” said Oliveira, who is a renter himself. “This provision is a relief to those struggling to find affordable housing who have an eviction record.”
Edwards first pushed for the bill when she was a Boston City Councilor in 2018.
While Quattrochi does not favor the bill, he said there were ways to provide relief to renters, something that he proposed to Edwards.
“We offered (to create) a protected class status against discrimination” for renters, he said. Instead, the bill “hides data and forces landlords to tighten their criteria,” he said.
“Landlords don’t evict people for fun. There is always a reason,” Quattrochi said.
A major benefit of the bill, said Paul Schack, coordinating attorney for Community Legal Aid in Springfield, is that tenants who were previously “blacklisted” for having an eviction record will now be able to petition a court to have their records sealed.
Eviction sealing is not an automatic process under the new law. Tenants who win their case, have a case dismissed or had a no-fault eviction case can petition to have their records sealed immediately after the appeal period ends, according to a fact sheet on the new law. Tenants will need to wait four years to petition after the end of a non-payment case, and seven years after a fault-eviction case if they have no other eviction cases filed against them.
“A young person who was maybe financially unstable should not carry an eviction record label with them for the rest of their life,” Oliveira said.
Earlier this week, the Massachusetts Trial Court launched an online tool to help residents seeking to seal their eviction records. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Massachusetts Law Reform Institute rolled out a webpage, SealMyEviction.org, to also help residents with the process.
State House News Service contributed to this report.