COVID Eviction Legal Help Project Extended Through December

State provides additional recourses to eligible low-income tenants and landlords

BOSTON, May 5 — The COVID Eviction Legal Help Project (CELHP) has been extended for six months to provide continued support to at-risk, low-income tenants and landlords during the pandemic.

Managed by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, CELHP is part of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Eviction Diversion Initiative, which was created in October 2020 to keep people safely in their homes during the pandemic. Initially structured to extend to the end of Fiscal Year 2021 (June 30), the project will now run until December 31, 2021.

The CELHP project created a statewide legal services delivery system to provide free legal assistance to income-eligible tenants and landlords who are owner-occupants of two- and three-family homes.

“I am very grateful that the CELHP project has been extended,” said Lynne Parker, MLAC executive director. “Even though we are seeing lower infection rates and increasing numbers of vaccinations, low-income people – who have been disproportionately affected throughout the pandemic – are still reeling from loss of income that leaves that at high risk of eviction. With additional time and resources to help the most vulnerable tenants and landlords, more people can achieve housing stability.”

MLAC oversees the delivery of CELHP services through contracts with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and six regional legal aid organizations across the state: Community Legal Aid, De Novo, Greater Boston Legal Services, MetroWest Legal Services, Northeast Legal Aid, and South Coastal Counties Legal Services.

CELHP provides referrals, legal information, assistance, and legal representation in all sittings of the Massachusetts Housing Court, to preserve or achieve housing stability. When possible, it also provides legal assistance in District Courts with high-volume summary process caseloads and to prevent the termination of subsidies prior to court to avert eviction.

To qualify for assistance, people must have an annual household income of less than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For example, a family of four with an annual income of $52,400 would qualify. The project also provides referrals for “low bono” services for low-income owner-occupants with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of the poverty guidelines.