Rent control provided two important protections for tenants, according to Cavellini. It slowed rent increases, limiting landlord profit margins, and provided for a "just-cause" eviction process so tenants could not be evicted without reason.
Because of these protections, EFZ simply had to bring tenant complaints before a now-defunct rent control board.
Now, EFZ has to depend on direct legal action.
"Resolution of conflict was at the rent control board," Cavellini says. "Basically, that step was eliminated. Now it's in front of a courthouse, which is not a good place for tenants."
A recently founded EFZ program, though, is ensuring tenants still have a voice.
About 16,000 housing units in Cambridge lost their protection under rent control. To compensate for this loss, EFZ founded its Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes to forestall evictions and keep rents down.
The campaign encourages tenants to organize in order to wage a more effective fight.
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