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Worcester committee hears rising eviction filings, lack of tenant counsel; councilors press for RAFT data, legal-aid pilot and zoning report
Summary
Committee heard eviction filings data showing hundreds of cases and that most defendants in housing court lack legal counsel. Members asked providers and city staff for ZIP-code evictions, RAFT breakdowns, and to explore a local Access to Counsel pilot and vacant-land inventory to speed housing creation.
WORCESTER, Mass. — Eviction filings remain a persistent source of housing instability in Worcester, and committee members on Feb. 27 pressed city staff and housing providers for data and pilot programs after seeing court filings and hearing that most tenants in housing court lack lawyers.
Jack Moran, who presented housing-court monitoring data for Central Massachusetts providers, told the committee the most recent six-month view of Worcester filings showed 748 eviction cases and that more than 97% of defendants in those cases appear without legal counsel. Moran said plaintiffs (landlords) are pro se in under 10% of cases, underscoring the imbalance in legal representation.
Why this matters: Tenants without counsel are less likely to obtain outcomes that prevent displacement. Committee members asked for aggregate RAFT program data and ZIP-code maps so the council can target prevention and outreach, and they asked Community Legal Aid affiliates about…
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