SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Hundreds of housing organizations are calling on state lawmakers to extend a pandemic-era eviction prevention policy that is set to expire next week.

The end of this pre-pandemic eviction policy warning would displace many and prevent
other efforts to keep people in their homes. A section of a state law known as ‘Chapter 2-57’ requires eviction cases to be paused while a tenant has an open application for rental aid.

That requirement ends next month, a move that housing advocates say could lead to a spike in homelessness in Massachusetts. They want the policy to be stretched until 2024, but lawmakers have extended ‘Chapters 2-57’ twice already.

Groups that signed the letter, organized by Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, urged lawmakers to keep the policy in place until July 31, 2024.

Advocates hope that this extension will allow more time for a permanent solution to be put into
place.