The hardest part of battling eviction is the not knowing, Lavette Sealls said. “You’re always living on edge because you know eventually you might have to move,” she said. “You go on fighting as hard as you can.”
Broadway Capital’s “Miky V.” meets organized tenants he’s neglected during Chelsea Planning Board meeting, efforts halts 20 unit luxury condo decision
Tuesday, November 30th: Organized Broadway Capital tenants and advocates gathered in Chelsea City Hall to oppose Managing Director of Broadway Capital Mikael R. Vienneau's project proposal for 20 luxury condos at 146-150 Williams & 65 Pine street. This project proposal would worsen gentrification in the City of Chelsea and price out long-term residents already struggling with terrible conditions. / El martes 30 de noviembre, se reunieron los inquilinos y los defensores organizados de Broadway Capital en el Ayuntamiento de Chelsea para oponerse a la propuesta de proyecto del Director de Broadway Capital, Mikael R. Vienneau, de 20 condominios de lujo en 146-150 Williams y 65 Pine Street. Esta propuesta de proyecto empeoraría la gentrificación en la ciudad de Chelsea y afectaría a los residentes de mucho tiempo que ya enfrentan condiciones terribles.
Read more#GivingTuesday Support the work that keeps families in their homes // #MartesdeDar: Apoye el trabajo que mantiene a las familias en sus hogares
We hope you consider donating to support the critical work City Life / Vida Urbana does today and beyond the pandemic this holiday season. Please make your gift today while it's on your mind. Donate here.
En esta temporada navideña, esperamos que considere hacer una donación para apoyar el trabajo crítico que City Life / Vida Urbana está haciendo durante y más allá de la pandemia. Haga su donación hoy, mientras lo tiene en mente. Done aquí.
Read moreDigital Day of Action, PASS H.1443/S.891 #HousingEquityMA / Día de Acción Digital, APRUEBA proyecto H.1443/S.891 #EquidadDeVivienda
In November, HFA led a digital day of action in response to the formal legislative session ending last week 11/17. We tweeted, made calls and emails to hit communications lines of Housing committee co-chairs Senator Keenan and Representative Arciero. // En noviembre, la HFA lideró un día de acción digital en respuesta al final de la sesión legislativa formal que terminó la semana pasada el 17 de noviembre. Tweeteamos, realizamos llamadas y correos electrónicos hace los copresidentes del comité de vivienda, el senador Keenan y el representante Arciero.
Housing pressures increase in Boston
in The Boston Globe on June 16, 2014 by Lawrence Harmon
THE DIFFICULTY of finding and holding onto an economical rental unit in Boston is enough to make a grown man cry. Not just any man, but Stephen Key, a Hall of Fame member of the World Martial Arts Federation. Key, 53, has shown the skill and courage needed to reach grandmaster status in kung fu. Yet he shed tears last week while describing his efforts to keep a roof over the head of his wife and three children on Norwell Street in Dorchester after government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae foreclosed on his former landlord and moved to evict the building’s tenants.
Read moreCITY LIFELINE: WILL BOSTON LEAD THE COUNTRY OUT OF FORECLOSURE?
in Dig Boston on June 17, 2014 by Chris Faraone

Sometimes the best way to make a point is to commit a defensible crime. And so earlier this month, more than a hundred Boston residents and allies occupied a vacant, foreclosed home on Norwell Street in Dorchester. Once there, organizers settled in a family that had previously been booted from another house, and also built a pop-up pirate radio station with a rooftop antenna to broadcast their message: The housing crisis isn’t over!
Read moreCan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be shamed into changing?
in The Boston Globe on June 12, 2014, by Paul McMorrow, Globe Columnist
MASSACHUSETTS PICKED a fight with the federal government and the companies behind half the country’s mortgages last week. Attorney General Martha Coakley’s decision to sue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nationalized mortgage giants, is a preemptive strike meant to defend the state’s tough foreclosure prevention laws. It’s also a serious uphill slog. Chicago was the last government to take on Fannie and Freddie, and it lost the fight badly.
Read moreActivists continue protest over housing access
In The Boston Globe on June 11, 2014, by Jacqueline Tempera
A coalition of community groups protested outside a foreclosed Dorchester home Tuesday and called for more affordable housing in Boston.
The group, made up of seven nonprofit organizations, took to Norwell Street for the second time this week. Over the weekend, the group attempted to move a homeless family into the vacant house, only to be driven out by law enforcement officials, said Darnell Johnson, a coalition spokesman.
Read moreBoston community groups protest in Dorchester
in Sampan Newspaper on June 10, 2014, by Right to the City and the Boston Tenant Coalition
Stop evictions and rent inflation—hear the call of the renter nation! Chants echoed down the street as Right to the City and the Boston Tenant Coalition held a rally and press conference June 10, announcing the release of The Rise of the Renter Nation, a national report on affordable housing. Today’s press conference in the Four Corners neighborhood was one of nine actions taking place in cities across the country.
Read moreProtestors occupy vacant house, rally for housing
in The Boston Globe on June 8, 2014, by Claire McNeill
Activists rallied on Saturday in Dorchester at a home that they took over to make a statement: Housing is a human right.
Housing Activists Plan Pirate Radio Broadcast From Occupied Dorchester Duplex This Weekend
By Dave Goodman
BOSTON/Dorchester – The vacant two family house on Norwell Street in Dorchester stands as a reminder that the foreclosure crisis continues to haunt Boston. But starting on Saturday morning and continuing throughout the weekend, the house will be filled with the sounds of activists and media makers as Jamaica Plain based advocacy organization, City Life/Vida Urbana, occupies the property and commences a pirate radio broadcast of the proceedings.
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