🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <40thfi$1ph@news.bu.edu>, Doug Watson <dwatson@bu.edu> wrote:
>2-bedroom apartment near Coolidge Corner
>
>
>* Heat & hot water ...
>
>
>starts Sept. 1
>$1262/month
>

	Kind of high Ken but not atypical.  For those out their interested
in controlling rents within a reasonable framework please take a look
at the ballot iniative already filed and that will be on the ballot 
statewide in Ma. in the next election.  If you're interested in getting
involved please call MTO or the Cambridge Tenants Union for more 
information.

				Steve

				-----


                         Initiative Petition for a
                         "Community Empowerment Act"


     Be it enacted by the People, and by their authority:


     Section 1.  Purpose.  This Act, which shall be called
the "Community Empowerment Act", is intended to secure the
rights and powers of towns and cities to regulate the
development and use of land and buildings in keeping with
the character of their communities, especially when a
town or city finds that it or a community within its
jurisdiction is faced with conditions that
threaten its stability and cohesion.


     Section 2.  Definition of Emergency.  For purposes  of
this Act, an emergency shall be defined as and said to exist
when a town or city, or a community within its jurisdiction,
faces conditions that threaten the community's stability and
cohesion or the health, safety, and convenience of its residents.
Such conditions include, but are not limited to:


     a. expansion of tax exempt institutions where these
        already occupy a substantial part of the community's
        land area,
     b. speculative development of natural land, wetlands,
        or agricultural land,
     c. more than 7.5% annual expansion of the housing
        stock,
     d. displacement of renter households by evictions, rent
        increases, or condominium conversion,
     e. loss of federal and state financial support,
        especially for housing low-income
     households,
     f. loss of places vital to the historical continuity of
        community.


     For purposes of the Act, community shall mean a population
defining itself around shared institutions including, but not
limited to, school districts and centralized commercial
districts containing retail, professional, and other
interdependent civic institutions, as a town or city; or as any
subdivision thereof which is recognized by the local Planning
Board or where none exists, by another local regulatory body
with jurisdiction over land; or as a neighborhood or township;
but not a census tract or electoral precinct or district.
Speculative development shall mean development engaged in or
produced for a general and open commodity market rather than for
specific clients for purchasers.


     Section 3. Applicability and Scope.  Notwithstanding any
existing law to the contrary, any town or city facing an emergency
as defined in Section 2 may, upon a declaration of such emergency:

     a. require removal permits be sought and obtained before the
        current use of an existing structure, whether it be residential
        or commercial, is converted to some other use, including
        institutional use, provided that:

          (1)  reasonable criteria consistent with the purpose of
          this Act, and with the definition of emergency stated
          herein, for granting or denying such permits be codified
          by local ordinance or by-law; and

          (2) a local board shall be established, or existing board
          be empowered, to carry out the purposes of this provision.

     b. set a limit on the number of building permits granted for
        the construction of new buildings on undeveloped lots in any
        given time period or over them course of the emergency,
        provided that:

          (1) if any special criteria are to be used in allotting or
          granting the permits, these criteria must be reasonably
          related to the declared emergency and shall be codified by
          local ordinance or by-law, and a local board shall be
          established, or existing board be empowered, to carry out
          the purposes of any such ordinance or by-law; and

          (2) upon public advertisement of a proposed ordinance or
          by-law under this provision of this Act, an immediate
          moratorium on the granting of such permits shall take effect
          until the ordinance or by-law is approved or denied; but no
          such moratorium shall affect permits requested by
          community residents on land on or immediately contiguous to
          their domiciles; nor may the provision for a moratorium
          be exercised on the same land more than once in two years;
          a moratorium shall expire upon  enactment of ordinance or
          by-law under Section 3(b) of this Act, or in sixty days if
          no such ordinance or by-law is enacted.

     c. adopt any or all of the following measures intended to
        stabilize the tenure of households at risk:

          (1) allowance of the eviction of tenant households only
          for specified just cause, where all just causes shall be
          enumerated by local ordinance or by-law;

          (2) a limit by percentage of any increase in rent for
          tenant households in any given year or twelve-month period,
          provided that:

               (I) the percentage shall be no less than 5%; and

               (ii) landlords may seek and obtain higher increases
               upon a showing of actual costs incurred in maintaining
               the housing unit(s) in question to a local
               administration board.

          (3) further regulations to allow rents to be set on the
          basis of the actual costs of operating and maintaining
          existing housing, provided that:

               (I) landlords shall be guaranteed a fair net
               operating income from their properties

               (ii) only those housing units operated by landlords
               as a business, as opposed to space rented out in
               one's home, shall be subject to these regulations,
               for which purpose a city or town shall determine
               how many units of housing in an owner-occupied
               structure will constitute space rented out in one's
               home, provided that such a number be no less
               than three or no more than ten;

               (iii) the initial maximum rent levels for subject
               housing units shall be set at the rent charged six
               months prior to action under this provision of
               Section 3 (c) of this Act by any town or city, or
               any other suitable prior date to safeguard against
               rapid escalations in rent intended to defeat the
               purposes of this Act; and

               (iv) a local administrative board shall be established
               or existing board be empowered to effectuate and enforce
               this provision of the Act.


     For Purposes of Section 3(c) of this Act, tenant households shall
include all renters in privately owned properties and those living in
housing affected by government subsidy programs, including "expiring
use" properties; except where such dwelling units or properties
are otherwise specifically exempted from such local housing
measures.


     Section 4. Local Option.  Any measure provided for under Section
3 of this Act may be adopted by a majority vote of the legislative
body of any town or city, subject to mayoral or other executive veto
where applicable, and may be rescinded in like manner.  Any measure
may also be adopted by voters through a local initiative petition
where applicable.  Approval of any such measure shall be accompanied
by a declaration in the form of specific findings that local
conditions constitute a serious emergency requiring local action, on
account of the aggravating impact of factors such as those set forth
in Section 2 of this Act.


     Section 5. Standards for Implementation.  Any board established
or empowered under this Act shall be subject to Chapter 30A, the
Administrative Procedures Act, and shall be established or empowered
to act within thirty days after passage of the appropriate ordinance
or by-law.  Where more than one measure is adopted, the task of
administration may be consolidated into one board, if appropriate.
Towns and cities may provide reasonable civil, legal, and equitable
remedies for violations of any measure approved or local ordinance
enacted under this Act.


     Section 6. Home Rule Provision.  Nothing in this Act shall
preclude towns and cities from filing home rule petitions for
emergency legislation as well when faced with conditions
that threaten a community's stability and cohesion.


     Section 7. Local Aid Calculation.  If town or city regulations
under Section 3 of this Act should result in lower property tax
valuations, and this impairs total receipts, state officials
calculating Local Aid pursuant to any statutory formula that
depends in part on local property tax receipts, may correct for
this factor.


     Section 8. Regulations to Limit Condominium Conversion
Amended.  The second paragraph of  Section 2 of Chapter 527 of
the Acts of 1983, the State Condominium Conversion Law, is hereby
repealed, and is replaced with:

     "Any city or town may, by ordinance or by-law, impose
provisions or requirements to regulate for the protection of
tenants with, respect to the conversion of housing accommodations
to the condominium or cooperative forms of ownership and evictions
related thereto which differ from those set fourth in this act,
upon a majority vote in the case of a city, or a majority vote of
a town meeting, or town council, in the case of a town; provided,
however, that no such ordinance or by-law which imposed additional
provisions or requirements than those set forth in this act shall
be applicable to any of the following housing accommodations: (i)
housing accommodations constructed or converted from a non-housing
to a housing use after the effective date of this act; (ii) housing
accommodations which were constructed or substantially
rehabilitated pursuant to any federal mortgage insurance program,
without any interest subsidy or tenant subsidy attached thereto;
and (iii) housing accommodations financed through the
Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency with an interest subsidy
attached thereto."


     Section 9. Procedures for Zoning Change Amended.  The fourth
paragraph of Section 5 of Chapter 40A of the General Laws is
hereby repealed , and is replaced with:

     "No zoning ordinance or by-law shall be adopted or changed
except by two-thirds vote of all the members of the town council,
or of the city council where there is a commission form of
government or a single branch, of each branch where there are two
branches, or by a two-thirds vote of a town meeting.


     Section 10: Grandfathering of Plans Filed Prior to Changes
in Zoning Ordinance When Emergency is Declared.  The following
paragraph shall be inserted after the fifth paragraph of Section
6 of Chapter 40A of the General Laws:


     "Where a city or town adopts a measure pursuant to Section
3(b) of the Community Empowerment Act and for the course of the
emergency declared under said Act, if a definitive plan is submitted
to a planning board for approval under the subdivision control law,
and written notice of such submission has been given to the city or
town clerk before the effective date of ordinance or by-law, the land
shown on such plan shall be governed by the applicable provisions
of the zoning ordinance or by-law, if any, in effect at the time of
the first such submission while such plan or plans are being
processed under the subdivision control law, and, if such definitive
plan or an amendment thereof is finally approved, for three years from
the date of the endorsement of such approval, except in the case where
such plan was submitted or submitted and approved before January first,
nineteen hundred and seventy-six, for seven years from the date of
the endorsement of such approval.  Whether such period is three years
or seven years, it shall be extended by a period equal to the
time which a city or town imposes or has imposed upon it by a state,
a federal agency or a court, a moratorium on construction, the
issuance of permits or utility connections.


     Section 11.  Existing Regional Plans Unaffected.  Measures
adopted under this Act shall be construed as additional
protections to enable cities and towns to proceed with orderly
development, beyond existing regional plans as of the day of
enactment.


     Section 12.  Historic Districts Unaffected.  Nothing in this
Act shall limit the authority now vested in cities and towns under
Chapter 40C of the General Laws to establish and maintain historic
districts.


     Section 13. Rights Also Protected.

     a. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit a taking
of property.  The Administering Board under any provision of this
Act shall issue a variance where a property owner demonstrates that
to deny a variance from any requirement implied or pursuant to this
Act would constitute a taking of property that would require
compensation under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts or of the United States of America.

     b. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit violation of
any law against discrimination.


     Section 14: Effectiveness.  This Act shall be effective as of
December 1, 1996.


     Section 15: Severability.  If any provision of this Act or
the application of such provision to any person or circumstance
shall be held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Act
and the applicability of such provisions to other persons or
circumstances shall not be affected thereby.