Good Afternoon Comrades!

This is Christian Kennedy, one of the co-chairs of Berkshires DSA. I am
pleased to announce this afternoon that Berkshires DSA has formed a
Berkshire Housing Working Group to address housing injustice and insecurity
in Berkshire County.

Our first call to action centers around new pieces of legislation that were
recently introduced in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, H.D. 5166
<[link removed]> and Massachusetts Senate S.D.
2992 <[link removed]> which has the
backing of organizations
making up the "Homes for All" coalition
<[link removed]>, including Northern Berkshire United
Way, Springfield No One Leaves, Berkshire Interfaith Organizing, Western MA
SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), the Food Bank of Western
Massachusetts, Berkshire United Way, Western MA Network to End
Homelessness, and Berkshire Community Action Council. The bill, among other
things, will:
-Freeze rents at pre-COVID levels for 12 months after the end of the state
of emergency.
-Extend ban on evictions for those unable to pay as a result of COVID.
-Offer protection for tenants from unfair debt collection practices.
-Provide emergency "just cause" eviction protections and allow
municipalities to permanently extend protections.

If this legislation passes, it could be a first step towards providing
renters and homeowners, especially renters and homeowners of color, with
real housing security in the ongoing tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic. City
Life's Evictions in Boston <[link removed]> report
meticulously details the racial biases and injustices ingrained in our
communities' approach to housing; Over 2/3 (70%) of market-rate eviction
filings are in census tracts where the majority of residents are people of
color (even though only about half of city’s rental housing is in these
areas).

Please join us in our first action by phone banking state representatives
and senators on Wednesday, July 8th from 4 PM-6:30PM.

The first meeting of the Berkshire Housing Working Group will be on
Tuesday, July 14th at 5 PM (info below). Please feel free to attend with
your ideas and goals for ensuring housing justice and security for all!

DSA Line 13 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Berkshire Housing Working Group
Time: Jul 14, 2020 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
[link removed]

Meeting ID: 670 224 4317
Password: 447723
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Meeting ID: 670 224 4317
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Berkshire Housing Working Group Agenda 7/14
<[link removed]>

Phone Banking State Reps/Senators for H.D. 5166...
<[link removed]>

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