Community Organizing & Advocacy program
Engaging low-income residents in collectively pushing for social change
Somerville renters and homeowners joined CAAS and Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) in October 2020 to protest the end of the Massachusetts state eviction & foreclosure moratorium. While the state moratorium ended that fall, our movement succeeded in making the City of Somerville’s local ban on evictions extend longer than any other in the state — protecting tenants through June 30, 2022. Interested in community organizing and joining our movement for housing justice in Somerville? Contact us on the form below to learn more!
Our Mission
CAAS’ Community Organizing & Advocacy program takes a systematic approach to advancing CAAS’ mission by working with residents to eliminate the root causes of economic injustice. We are dedicated to empowering Somerville residents who are the most oppressed from accessing power: low-income residents, renters, people of color, immigrants and refugees, non-English speakers, seniors, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ folks.
Our work centers on the housing justice movement — the struggle to make housing a human right for all people, regardless of background — and our tenant leaders are those who are experiencing Somerville’s affordable housing crisis first-hand.
Our Vision for Somerville is…
A city where no one lives in poverty, where we support each other through strong community structures, and where the opportunity to thrive is a right and lived experience for every resident.
To achieve this vision, we believe that everyone has the potential to be a leader. Your personal story and life’s journey have power. By connecting our individual experiences to one another with a shared vision for our community, we are building a movement of families and neighbors who make Somerville a better city for all, starting with our housing.
Our Program Services
Educating Somerville residents about their rights as renters in private and public housing, especially for renters who are working class, have lower incomes, are people of color, are immigrants, and/or do not speak English. Empowering and organizing tenants who are at risk of displacement from Somerville due to rent hikes, building sales, renovations, and other market forces. Is your building up for sale, recently sold, or facing an unaffordable rent increase? Don’t move out! Our team can help you.
Advocacy to change bad or unsafe living conditions and property repairs, and advocacy to end harassment or poor treatment by landlords and property management. Please note: we are not trained mediators and we cannot mediate between tenants.
Connecting and empowering tenants who would benefit from a supportive group of neighbors and learning about their rights at our monthly Renters Meetings. Read more below.
Developing the leadership and collective power of tenants who are ready to organize for change in their apartment building (also known as tenant organizing) or citywide through community actions and campaigns. Read more below.
Are you a Somerville renter/tenant facing one of these issues, or want to refer to someone who needs support? Please use the contact form below or call: 617-623-7370 ext. 148.
Looking for rental and eviction assistance, affordable housing search, or public benefits assistance? Please use the CAAS Housing Advocacy Program (HAP) online application or call: 617-623-7370.
Contact Us - CAAS Community Organizing Program
CAAS Community Organizers and the second group of Somerville residents who participated in our Leadership Development Institute (LDI) training program, standing and smiling with masks on at their graduation ceremony (April 2023). Interested in building your skills as a leader for housing justice in Somerville? Contact us on the form to learn more!
The CAAS Community Organizing office is closed to new cases from 12/16/23 to 1/5/24 in observance of the holidays. All messages and requests for help in the second half of December will be replied to during the week of 1/8/24. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
If you are facing a housing emergency or need assistance sooner, please call Somerville 3-1-1.
Somerville Renters Meetings
Somerville tenants, homeowners, allies, and CAAS Organizers smile with their fists raised at the last Somerville Renters Meeting of the year (December 2022).
CAAS organizers host a virtual meeting for Somerville renters during the third week of the month from 7:00-8:30 pm (*dates subject to change; contact CAAS to confirm). The purpose of these meetings is to provide space for renters of all backgrounds to build community with neighbors, find support if you are struggling to pay rent or facing challenges with your landlord, and to learn about renters rights, resources, and empowerment through organizing. These fully multilingual meetings are held in English, Spanish, and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation, and additional languages upon request.
Register for the meeting here: bit.ly/Somerville-Renters
If you would prefer to connect directly with an organizer at CAAS, please contact 617-623-7370 ext. 148 or email: organizing@caasomerville.org
Meeting Schedule:
Thank you for a great year of Renters Meetings! We’ll be back in January 2024 to announce our meeting schedule for the new year, which will resume in February.
¡Tenemos interpretación al español! Nosotros esperamos que usted pueda unirse a nosotros, para encontrarse con otros inquilinos en la comunidad, tener apoyo durante este momento desafiante y aprender sobre los derechos de los inquilinos. Por favor, registrese aqui: bit.ly/Somerville-Renters. Si usted prefiere puede ponerse en contacto con un organizadore de CAAS: organizing@caasomerville.org o 617-623-7370 ext. 148
Temos interpretação em português! Nós esperamos que você possa comparecer, para encontrar com os inquilinos da comunidade, ter apoio durante esse momento desafiador e aprender sobre os direitos do inquilino. Por favor, registre no bit.ly/Somerville-Renters. Se você preferir pode entrar em contato com a organizadore do CAAS: organizing@caasomerville.org o 617-623-7370 ext. 148
Current Tenant Organizing Campaigns
Tenants have legal rights and you do not have to move out. Contact CAAS using the form above to learn more.
Is your building up for sale, recently sold, or facing an unaffordable rent increase? You don’t have to move! Contact CAAS.
CAAS partners with the City of Somerville Office of Housing Stability (OHS) to educate and support renters in situations of building sales, unaffordable rent increases, no-fault evictions, and other “market forces” that cause displacement.
Since September 2021, CAAS has organized more than 54 households of tenants across 14 multi-family buildings in Somerville to prevent the displacement of our neighbors. Not all of our campaigns go fully public, but each relies upon the solidarity of our neighbors and elected officials to achieve their goals and stability!
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109 Walnut Street
At 109 Walnut Street in Gilman Square, Vanessa, her mother, and her school-aged son were at risk of eviction when the apartment building was sold in September 2022 to be renovated and rented for millions of dollars of profit by investor and developer Lior Rozhansky. Over the last 2 years, our community mobilized and pressured Rozhansky to freeze Vanessa’s rent and allow her to stay at 109 Walnut until her son graduated from high school. While Vanessa will be moving out at the end of summer 2023, her family could not have achieved these protections with our collective action! Vanessa also remains a powerful leader on our Somerville Renters Committee.
Vanessa and her mother, Josefa, were prominently featured in a Boston Globe article about the MBTA Green Line Extension, gentrification, and their fight to resist displacement. CAAS tenant leader Candice was also interviewed and pictured in the story. Read more about their stories here and GLX anti-displacement campaign here.
Somerville tenant leaders, ERN members, and the community rallied with CAAS and the Tremont Street tenants for their right to collective negotiations (September 2022).
182-184 Tremont Street
Five working class families from El Salvador and Haiti have called Tremont Street their home for years. Matthew Urcioli of BBD Holdings LLC purchased their building in summer 2022, then swiftly hiked the rents by upwards of 74% and filed no-fault evictions. The tenants organized a union and fought back together, and with the community’s support, they were able to stay in their homes with a rent freeze for more than a year! But now, Urcioli is trying to deny the final family the move out payment that she is owed. Santos left her apartment in June 2023 and is still owed $7,000 — and we won’t stop organizing until she wins. Take action by signing our campaign petition (you will also receive future updates): bit.ly/TremontSt-Petition
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6-8 Mortimer Place
Three low income families and tenants from Brazil are fought displacement from the Winter Hill neighborhood, after their building was purchased in summer 2022 and rents were raised nearly 60% by Edson Realty LLC. Again thanks to the community’s support and pressure, the owner agreed to collective negotiation meetings with the tenants and CAAS — helping them win a more reasonable rent increase and one more year to search for new housing. As of summer 2023, Veranice is still living in the building, became a leader with the Somerville Renters Committee, and is searching for affordable housing elsewhere in Somerville for this fall.
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571 Somerville Ave
Elizabete and Ernani moved to Somerville more than 20 years ago from Brazil, and have lived in the same apartment since arriving here. In September 2022, developer Mai Luo of Kendall Capital LLC purchased the entire block of buildings where this family and several other Brazilian tenants and working class businesses live. Luo’s goal is to demolish the block and construct studios and 1-bedroom apartments for luxury market-rate prices. Elizabete is organizing to make sure her family gets abundant time, financial resources, and relocation support if they are forced to leave their home — please follow CAAS Organizing to take collective action!
Somerville Eviction Response Network
Somerville Eviction Response Network (ERN) volunteers at our all-member meeting in July 2022.
The Somerville Eviction Response Network (ERN) is CAAS’ base of volunteers who organize in solidarity with our low-income tenant leaders to prevent evictions and displacement in our community. We are a non-violent network and expect all our volunteer members to commit to the values of non violence. We build our local housing justice movement through:
Upstream eviction prevention through Know Your Rights canvassing and researching buildings for sale in Somerville
Organizing public actions to raise awareness of the affordability and displacement crisis
Advocating for structural change and policies that protect tenants, prevent displacement, and promote housing that is truly affordable for all
Knowledge and skill building on housing justice topics, and creative projects
Regardless of how long you lived in or near Somerville or how much you know about the issue, there's a role we can all take on to make sure housing becomes a human right in this community! We encourage all ERN members to attend our monthly Somerville Renters Meetings to connections and build solidarity with your neighbors through our organizing projects and campaigns. Register here for the next meeting: bit.ly/Somerville-Renters
To take action with the Eviction Response Network, please contact CAAS Organizers at: organizing@caasomerville.org or sign up now on our member form: tinyurl.com/NoSomervilleEvictions
Know Your Rights Resources for Somerville Renters and Immigrants
Knowledge is power. All renters have rights, regardless of immigration status. Through the height of the pandemic, CAAS was proud to lead the Somerville Know Your Rights Coalition (KYRC) — a partnership of City offices, attorneys, housing nonprofits, and grassroots organizers — who want our neighbors to know that whether you are facing an eviction, struggling to pay rent, or need legal guidance, you are not alone.
Watch our Somerville Tenants’ Rights Webinar from March 2022 hosted in partnership with the City of Somerville Office of Housing Stability at this link.
Watch our shorter, issue-specific Know Your Rights videos in English, Spanish, and Portuguese at this link.
Past Community Victories and Events (2020-2022)
Past Tenant Organizing Campaigns (2016-2017)
Mystic Tenants Association
CAAS' organizing team worked with residents at the Mystic River Apartments owned by the Somerville Housing Authority in Winter Hill to revive the Mystic Tenant Association (MTA). Elections for the MTA Board members were held in February 2017, and at the beginning of April this new group of resident leaders had their first all-resident meeting. It was a rousing success with over forty tenants in attendance, and people actively participating in both English and Spanish. The MTA Board is now looking to continue building their base and involving more and more Mystic residents from all language backgrounds.
Pearl Street Park Resident Association
Pearl Street Park (PSP) is a privately owned, HUD-subsidized building for the elderly and disabled. When private owners sign a contract with HUD making their building affordable it is usually time-limited; at the expiration of the stated time period the building reverts to market rent. PSP's affordability was due to expire in September of 2018. The organizing department at CAAS paid attention to buildings with expiring use because we wanted to preserve all of Somerville's affordable housing. We did this by helping tenants organize a tenant association; empowering them to take actions that will improve and stabilize their housing situation; and working with management and owners to keep their housing affordable. Our efforts at Pearl Street Park were successful: PSP's affordability was extended.
Clarendon Residents United
CAAS organizers worked on a tenant rights action project at the Clarendon Hills Apartments in West Somerville. The Somerville Housing Authority partnered with private developers to redevelop the site, which would temporarily displace the 216 families that currently reside there. The redevelopment will involve increasing the density of the site by adding 300 market-rate and workforce-rate housing units and rebuilding the current affordable housing units. CAAS worked with residents to organize a tenant association that will represent tenants’ voices during the process. Given the vulnerable population currently living in the housing project, ensuring that tenant voices are heard during negotiations is a key goal of the CAAS organizing team. Through this process, the tenants solidified their rights and get answers to important concerns about residents’ rights to stay in Somerville during the redevelopment process, whether or not children will be able to stay in the Somerville School District if their families move, and whether all current tenants will be guaranteed the right to move back when the development is completed. Clarendon Residents negotiated successfully to make sure residents can stay in Somerville, and that the land stays public into the future.