I. Woman Owned Businesses |
-We began the class by discussing
woman owned businesses and how the governments laws/regulations take part in
this
-Is it fair that there is a set
amount of space set aside for the government to require certain types of businesses?
-Should the state give
preferential benefits to a woman for the sole reason that she is a woman?
Thoughts from the class |
- They don’t fill the quota – they want the percentage to be even and they want people to take advantage of these opportunities, and once they are taking advantage of it, then it will even out.
- The professor, a woman, has had a company for awhile, she just hasn’t filled out the paperwork. So maybe the quota is already being filled and it’s just unknown.
- The words fair and competition, etc. are not just what they seem on the surface - you have to look a little bit further
- Our population is made up of certain percentages of these different groups of people - therefore the projects/businesses should reflect it
- One student worked for a firm who had to meet a quota- they are still subject to the same amount of qualifications. Just because they are within the quota spectrum, doesn’t mean they are qualified or just “given” the project.
- It simply gives them the opportunity and a chance that they may otherwise not have had. The underdogs need support to be equal to the people on top.
- Just because there is equality, does not mean that there is equity. They may both have a certification, and they are on the same platform that way, but they may not be able to achieve the same end goal *Reference Figure Below
II. Tax Laws |
-The above discussion translated
into a discussion about the new tax law
-What are things that are going on
in this tax law that are unfolding before our eyes?
Thoughts
from the class |
- They passed the law so fast that we’re not sure what it means
- PUD – has been, for years, moving away from public housing
- Political narrative around public housing – we shouldn’t be giving housing to people for free, you have to earn it. Now there is this sort of voucher system.
- With vouchers, the government says “here’s a voucher, go find a place” - as seen in EVICTED
- Most popular and utilized tax decisions for the middle class citizen is mortgage interest.
- What is the difference between giving people this huge tax deduction, and giving people a place to live (free housing)?
- HUD, Affordable hosing, etc. is completely gutted. There is a difference between when someone is poor and someone who can afford to buy a place to live. “I am considered deserving of those privileges –to not get drug tested, etc.”
- We should always be looking around the corner for the other answer. Why do we treat people different and how can this stop as a society and a system?
- We as a society judge people according to whether we think they’re poor, their race, family, etc. – This matters in how these policies get written and how they get carried out.
- Having the population be represented in the profession, having voices be heard from all parts of the population, etc. is very important.
BIG TAKE AWAY | We need to think of how to intervene in the
court system based on these concerns listed above. To change the entire
landscape of housing policy – not possible – but we can start making surgical
approaches and begin the process.
III. Recap of Monday’s class (2|5|18) |
-We continued the class by wrapping up what we started on Monday, that
way we have a nice clear direction for court on Monday (2|12|18).
-The
students got into the same groups as the previous class (2|5|18) and discussed
the pinching points/outcomes, while also expanding the conversation to what are
the touch points, what are the things that are not working, how do resources
get to those people? Etc.
Keeping in mind the players |
-lawyer
-tenant
-landlord
-court
staff
IV. The discussion |
- We broke into groups and discussed/researched the categories below (1)
(2) and (3).
(1) Resources audit
(2) Touch points
(3) Numbers -- how many people are coming in /out, how many cases - to
understand the flow of people
(3) Numbers - in depth |
- In just the housing court, in the one day the class visited:
- 189 trial cases
- 71 motions
- 3 judges
- 85% success rate resolved in mediation
- in 2014 in Boston there was 1,635 evictions
- in 2011- there were 2,068 evictions
- In the court house, there are 30 spaces in the building that you may have to be in, this proposes to add to the confusion of court and how someone supposed to know where to go
- in Boston, 34.7% of houses are owner occupied. Average person per house is 2.35%
- 21.1% of people are in poverty
- 31% of people in mass are not covered by housing court
- Boston is 67% residential tenants – owners
- Boston’s median income for renters as of 2013 is $40,065
- Average price to rent | one bedroom $2,503. Two bedroom-$3,190
- 17,565 people in mass that experienced homelessness in January 2017
- The unemployment rate of 2017 was below 3%, the lowest since 2000
- There are 18 housing courts in Massachusetts
- There are 10 judges in all of Massachusetts, 3 were there the day we went
- In 2011, 5,197 cases were brought before the Boston Housing Court
-1,075 of those
2,970 resulted in eviction
-An average of
$1,600 was owed in overdue rent
- The final decision is sent out within 3 weeks of the conclusion of the case; a hearing officer will send you the decisions and they can overturn what the judge has said
- Landlord types involved in subsidized cases in 2011 |
-65% were management companies
-23% were private landlords
-12% was housing authority
- How many are self represented | 2017
- Plaintiffs – 31.5%
- Defendants
– 85.7%
V. Outcomes from discussion |
-Points to discuss from
each group
(A) One
interesting fact
(B) Something
mysterious
(C) Something
that is a point of opportunity
Resource
Audit | (1)
(A) Lots
of resources available from the city and state- especially from the eviction
guide, works you through the process – found on boston.gov
(B) No
one seems to know what resources there are. It took awhile to find something
and the group knew it existed; so if you are a tenant and don’t know, how long
would they take to find it?
(C) Looked
at Notice to Quit - there’s plenty of room to write more information, you can
also write it on a bigger piece of paper
Touch
Points | (2)
(A) Tenants
have the right to cure their Notice to Quite by paying all they owe within the
10 days’ given
(B) How
mediation actually works and how the lawyers get to be involved
(C) Space
outside courtroom is a great opportunity for something to happen; it is overlapping and not in a good way.
Numbers
| (3)
(A) 30%
of people in Mass are not covered by housing court; they just settle it in
regular court
(B) How
many people/cases actually go into the courthouse yearly, monthly
(C) The
disparity of self –representation (2017)
Plaintiffs – 31.5%
Defendants
– 85.7%
BIG TAKE AWAY | What is the clear sense of what we have to look at on Monday? We have one chance – use our knowledge from above and discover what to look for on our site visit? There are many holes in the system that can be addressed and many opportunities, as well as architectural opportunities that we can address to make a difference within the system.
VI. Question for Paul |
- How many trials are solved that same day?
- How many get open and closed in one day?
- How many weeks does a case take to be resolved?
- How is the notice to quit delivered? What exactly does it contain?
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