In 2009, at the height of the foreclosure
crisis, organized residents in Rhode Island started a campaign to protect people living in foreclosed buildings from eviction. Modeled on legislation proposed in Massachusetts, Just Cause Eviction legislation has been a rallying cry for tenants and homeowners alike; a response to the unjust evictions perpetrated by the same banks who caused the foreclosure crisis through predatory loans and gambling in the speculative housing market.
The title, Just Cause, refers to the legal justifications for evictions outlined in existing landlord-tenant laws in Rhode Island. Currently, banks are not mandated to prove “just cause,” such as non-payment of rent, making a nuisance, doing something illegal, or breaking the rules of a lease, when evicting former owners and tenants from foreclosed buildings. Therefore banks are able to get away with evicting people who are at “no-fault” simply by deeming it as “bad business” to deal with them.
After the original bill faced heavy opposition from the banks, the campaign found its way to DARE – Direct Action for Rights and Equality, an active member group of Right to the City Alliance. DARE organizes low-income families in communities of color in Rhode Island for social, economic and political justice. Statewide Just Cause legislation is now the main campaign of DARE’s Tenant and Homeowner Association.
As in Massachusetts, political pressures forced a compromise, which eliminated protections for former owners living in foreclosed buildings. While the new version limits the bill to protecting tenants alone,the law would protect families living in the 1,144 homes that were foreclosed in Rhode Island in 2013 from unjust eviction.
Keeping tenants in these properties, many of which house two or three families, would not only prevent homelessness, but also maintain property values in communities where the economic and foreclosure crisis have hit the hardest.
Measures like Just Cause, fought for by residents affected by foreclosure and evictions, can help create a housing infrastructure that protects tenants and provides housing that is stable for low-income families and communities. This year, DARE’s Tenant and Homeowner Association members have organized a strong coalition of ally organizations and individuals who have years of experience with the state’s political machinery. As a result of years of organizing and hard work, there is confidence that Just Cause has real viability to pass through both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 2014.
