Tag Archive for: National Consumer Law Center

Is home heating going to cost more this winter? (Boston Globe)

Below is an excerpt of an article published by the Boston Globe on October 28, discussing the financial aspects of home heating costs for the winter season in New England. The article also provides information on available financial assistance for those in need. Greater Boston Legal Services and the National Consumer Law Center are mentioned.

Last winter, I paid $300 less to heat my house, compared to the previous winter. That certainly was a welcome relief after three straight years of double-digit increases in my winter energy bill.

I have already turned the heat on briefly a couple of times this month, and soon enough, I expect to keep it on all the time. I use a combination of natural gas and electricity (boiler in basement; heat pump in attic) to heat my house, which is average-sized.

This winter, I expect to pay about the same or only slightly more than last year. That’s based on the latest estimate of the US Energy Information Administration, which crunches lots of data to compute monthly “short-term energy outlooks.”

Energy is expensive, especially in New England, which is dependent on natural gas to both directly heat many homes and to generate the electricity used to heat others (some households, like mine, use both). This region is also more dependent on oil for home heating than other regions.

With winter just around the corner, here are some things to know about heating your home:

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Bigger electric bill breaks are coming for some low-income residents in Mass. (WBUR)

 

Below is an excerpt of an article published by WBUR on October 4 discussing the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities’ approval to restructure National Grid’s low-income electric bill discount program. National Consumer Law Center’s Charlie Harak is quoted.

Many low-income residents living in National Grid’s service area will soon get a big break on their electric bills.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on Monday approved a plan from the company to substantially overhaul its program that gives less affluent residents a discount on their monthly bills.

Instead of offering a flat 32% discount to qualifying customers, National Grid will use a tiered structure that gives up to a 71% discount on monthly electric bills.

To help put some numbers to this change, consider the following examples:

  • In the past, a family of four making $30,000 a year and a family of four making $90,000 a year would both receive a 32% discount — so if their monthly electric bills were $200, they only have to pay $136.
  • Now, the first family would get a 71% discount and the second family would still get a 32% discount. Their monthly electric bills would be $58 and $136, respectively.

“The first-of-its-kind tiered discount program proposed by National Grid will provide important financial assistance to low-income electric customers in Massachusetts,” the company wrote in an email. It added that qualifying customers will continue to receive the current discount until the new program goes into effect in “mid-2025.”

Read more at WBUR.

Here’s a way to prevent foreclosures (Boston Globe)

Below is an excerpt from an article published by the Boston Globe on July 12 discussing an emerging pilot foreclosure mediation program with the goal being to help homeowners stay in the homes they have. Massachusetts Law Reform Insitute’s Andrea Park is quoted. 

Amid a statewide housing crisis with the shelter system at capacity, it is important to help homeowners stay in the homes they have.

Foreclosures have been rising since COVID-era homeowner protections expired. There were 5,340 foreclosure petitions — the first public, legal step in the foreclosure process — filed last year, according to the Division of Banks, a figure approaching pre-pandemic levels. Foreclosure mediation — where a homeowner and lender meet face-to-face with a mediator and discuss how to address a default — is a process that could stem the tide.

Sixteen states plus Washington, D.C., have foreclosure mediation, according to the National Consumer Law Center, including every other New England state except New Hampshire. It is time for Massachusetts to join them.

The Massachusetts Senate included an amendment in its housing bond bill creating a five-community pilot foreclosure mediation program. The House should agree and, if successful, the pilot should be expanded into a statewide program all lenders are required to participate in.

Bankers raise legitimate concerns about whether mediation is necessary, given requirements already in place in Massachusetts, and about associated costs and delays. A pilot program can collect data to answer these questions.

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Renters hit with no-fault evictions as investors and corporate owners gain hold, advocates say (Boston Globe)

Below is an excerpt from an article published by the Boston Globe on May 29. The article narrows in on the trend of no-fault evictions in Massachusetts communities, including arguments from both renters and landlords. De Novo Housing Attorney Katherine Fustich is quoted. 

Four days after his Somerville apartment was purchased by an out-of-state investor in early February, Michael Prentky received a letter: His rent was about to go up $1,200, to $3,200 a month, on April 1.

Should he and his partner opt not to renew their at-will tenancy in the three-unit building, Prentky needed to notify the property manager and give 30 days’ notice, the letter said.

“I hate to be cynical, but I had been expecting it,” Prentky, a 32-year-old musician, said recently as he stood outside his building at 22 Sargent Ave.

Since 2018, he’s lived there in Winter Hill in a three-bedroom apartment — which he described as effectively a two-bedroom, as the third is in disrepair.

In the months since the purchase, negotiations over the rent hikes between tenants in the building and the new landlord have stalled. Prentky and a resident in another unit each have received summonses for no-cause evictions — the process allowing landlords to seek to remove tenants for no specific reason.

Read more at the Boston Globe.

Rental Applicants Using Housing Vouchers Settle Ground-Breaking Discrimination Class Action Against SafeRent Solutions (ABC)

Below is an excerpt from an article published by ABC on April 26 about a settlement that, if approved, will provide over $2 million to tenants with housing vouchers who were disproportionately discriminated against by SafeRent Solutions and its algorithmic screening program. Greater Boston Legal Services’ Senior Housing Attorney Todd Kaplan and National Consumer Law Center’s Shennan Kavanagh are quoted.

BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2024 / On April 25, 2024, the Honorable Angel Kelley for the United States District Court of Massachusetts allowed a $2.275 million settlement on behalf of Massachusetts housing voucher recipients to move forward, certifying the settlement classes and directing notice to be sent to class members. The Court will hold a final approval hearing in November. The settlement, if finally approved, will resolve a lawsuit against SafeRent Solutions, a national tenant screening provider formerly known as CoreLogic Rental Property Solutions, claiming that SafeRent’s algorithmic tenant screening program (the “SafeRent Score”) disproportionately harmed housing voucher recipients, including Black and Hispanic individuals, under Massachusetts law protecting individuals based on their source of income and race. In July 2023, the Court denied SafeRent’s motion to dismiss the Plaintiffs’ Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Massachusetts Discrimination Law claims.

The pending settlement provides for significant injunctive relief to tenant applicants who rely on vouchers and may be subjected to SafeRent tenant screening. It would require a more robust evaluation of prospective housing voucher tenants’ eligibility for housing based on their full record rather than relying on a score derived though an algorithm. If SafeRent develops another tenant screening score it wishes to use after five years, it would have to be validated by an independent third-party organization agreed to by the Plaintiffs. This injunctive relief would establish precedent for the tenant screening industry.

Local officials ramp up push to phase out third-party electric providers (WBUR)

National Consumer Law Center’s Jennifer Bosco joins Boston Globe Reporter Sabrina Shankman to discuss reports of predatory practice by third-party electric providers in Massachusetts. Below is an introduction to their radio segment.

Massachusetts’ decision to deregulate its energy market was supposed to create increased competition and drive the price down for consumers.

But as reporting from WBUR and the Boston Globe found out, advocates say some suppliers prey on low-income, elderly and minority consumers and over-charge clients despite originally promising lower rates.

Some legislators say the system has become too problematic to regulate. State Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have recently joined calls to shut the competitive energy market down altogether. But others want to increase regulation on the industry instead.

Boston Globe reporter Sabrina Shankman joins Radio Boston to talk about the report along with Jenifer Bosco, senior attorney at the Boston-based nonprofit National Consumer Law Center.

Listen to the segment here.

Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination in tenant screening tool (CommonWealth Magazine)

CommonWealth Magazine recently reported on developments in the Louis vs. SafeRent Solutions case. An excerpt of the article is below. The plaintiffs in this case are represented by attorneys from Greater Boston Legal Services; the Washington, DC-based firm Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll; and the Boston-based National Consumer Law Center.

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Two Black women from Massachusetts are at the center of what could become a landmark federal case about whether software that screens potential tenants is illegally biased against Black and Hispanic applicants.

Rachael Rollins, the US attorney for Massachusetts, weighed in on the case, Louis vs. SafeRent Solutions, in a court brief this week, arguing that the technology used by tenant screening companies must comply with anti-discrimination rules. “Algorithms are written by people. As such, they are susceptible to all of the biases, implicit or explicit, of the people that create them,” Rollins said in a statement. Rollins said her filing “recognizes that our 20th century civil rights laws apply to 21st century innovations.”

SafeRent Solutions is a company used by landlords to screen potential tenants. SafeRent gives rental applicants a risk score based on their credit history, other credit-related information including non-tenancy debts, and eviction history.

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Read more at CommonWealth Magazine.

Energy prices are skyrocketing. Here’s how you can get financial help this winter (WBUR)

A Nov. 3 WBUR article quoted Charlie Harak (pictured above), a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, who lent his guidance on applying for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). An excerpt from the article is below.

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Most fuel assistance in Massachusetts comes from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, better known as LIHEAP (pronounced lie-heep). The name of the program is a bit of a misnomer, though, since you don’t actually have to be “low income” to get help.

LIHEAP money comes from the federal government but is distributed through designated community action groups and local nonprofits.

  • To qualify you need to make no more than 60% the state’s median income level, which in dollar terms, is $81,561 for a family of four and $42,411 for an individual.

The amount of assistance you get depends on your income and fuel source, said Charlie Harak, a Massachusetts-based attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “But in no category is it trivial money. So it’s worth everybody looking at.”

Read more from WBUR.

SafeRent Solutions accused of illegally discriminating against Black and Hispanic rental applicants

Greater Boston Legal Services, the National Consumer Law Center, and law firm Cohen Milstein filed a federal lawsuit on May 25 against SafeRent Solutions, LLC alleging that the national tenant screening provider has been violating the Fair Housing Act and related state laws for years. SafeRent, formerly known as CoreLogic Rental Property Solutions, provides tenant screening services that disproportionately give low scores to Black and Hispanic rental applicants who use federally funded housing vouchers to pay the vast majority of their rent, causing them to be denied housing.  The lawsuit alleges that SafeRent’s algorithm has a disparate impact based on race and source of income, in violation of federal and state laws.

“As stated in the complaint, while SafeRent considers applicants’ credit history, including credit-related information, including non-tenancy debts, and eviction history in calculating SafeRent Scores,” said Todd Kaplan, senior attorney at GBLS, “SafeRent’s algorithm does not consider the financial benefits of housing vouchers in assigning SafeRent Scores. On average over 73% of the monthly rental payment is paid through these vouchers.”

“Racial disparities in credit history and credit scores not only reflect historical racial disparities in wealth, but also perpetuate wealth inequalities through reduced financial opportunities and fewer financial safety nets, which hinder a consumer’s ability to accumulate present or intergenerational wealth through homeownership or other financial investments,” said Ariel Nelson, staff attorney at NCLC.

Read more at NCLC or on Inman, a real estate news source.

New rule allows debt collectors to contact you on social media

April Kuehnhoff, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, was quoted in a December 2 NBC Boston article about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new Debt Collection Rule, which gives debt collectors more ways to contact borrowers about unpaid debts.

The Debt Collection Rule allows third-party debt collectors to message people on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in an attempt to collect a debt.

Consumer advocacy groups argue the guidelines may not be enough to protect vulnerable families from harassing debt collection practices.

For one, the call limits are “per account,” meaning collectors could call a person with eight delinquent accounts up to 56 times per week. Debt collectors also don’t need a consumer’s permission to reach out via social media, and the rule doesn’t limit the number of messages they can send unless they opt out.

“The CFPB indicated that it can still revisit the rules in the future, and we urge them to do so,” said April Kuehnhoff, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “In the meantime, we call on states to enact additional protections to prevent vulnerable families still recovering from the pandemic from harassing and abusive debt collection practices.”  

Read more at NBC Boston.