Subtheme: Corporate Landlords & Evictions

Prior research (such as the Homes For All report below) has shown that corporate and absentee landlords evicted more people during COVID in the state of MA. Evictions can have devastating impacts on residents, families and communities. Conversely, live-in (or live-nearby) landlords tended to file for fewer evictions, leading the report to make a recommendation that local control of property contributes to housing stability. Communities of color, especially Black and LatinX people, faced particularly high rates of eviction. Do these findings hold up in the City of Boston? Are there more evictions in census tracts with less owners living in them? How have rates of owner occupancy and corporate ownership in Boston changed over time? Are there more corporate landlords now than there have been in the past?

Background Reading

  1. In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America (NYTimes) – A news article about nationwide evictions and eviction data. You may have already read this for A1.
  2. Housing Justice Beyond the Emergency: An Analysis of Racial Inequity in Eviction Filings across MA – An important report by Homes for All MA, an advocacy organization, together with MIT professor Eric Huntley, about evictions during COVID-19.

Datasets for the Final Project

  1. Corporate ownership rates and owner occupancy rates in Boston neighborhoods, 2004-2024 – Rates of corporate ownership and owner occupancy by neighborhood in Boston over 20 years. With this data, you can see which neighborhoods might be experiencing more corporations buying up properties and/or more absentee owners also buying up properties. Also includes demographic data so you can see who might be affected most by these trends.
  2. Residential sales data for City of Boston, combined with eviction data and ownership data – Residential sales transactions in Boston proper between 2000-2023, aggregated to census tracts, combined with with eviction data for 2020-2021, also combined with rates of owner-occupancy and corporate ownership (the same data from #1 above, but aggregated to census tracts instead of neighborhoods).
  3. Geographic data for making maps
  1. Affordable Homes Act – See specifically the provision about sealing eviction records (which would make studying evictions hard but would protect people who were evicted from further housing discrimination). See also the many provisions for public housing and affordable housing: summary, proposed bill.
  2. Right to Counsel Legislation – Bills proposed in the Massachusetts House and Senate that promote access to counsel (legal representation) for people facing evictions in order to promote housing stability in Massachusetts.
  3. Rent Control. This is the process of capping rents in order to protect tenants from escalating costs. Rent control was outlawed in MA by referendum in 1994 but recently advocates have been trying to repeal the ban. It’s notable that rent control is not included in the Affordable Homes Act, but there is a bill under consideration in the House and the Senate.